"Welsh hospice at tipping point" is the dramatic message coming from Llandudno based St David’s Hospice after the Welsh Government budget announcement this week.

Richard Thomas, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the North Wales Hospice said:

“Whilst we welcome the news of the £3 million reoccurring payment from Welsh Government, hospices need financial support right now, to be able to maintain our current level of clinical services. 

For the past ten years plus, statutory funding for hospices has not kept up with rising expenses, compounded by cost-of-living increases, salary adjustments required by Agenda for Change agreements, and recent hikes in both national insurance and the national minimum wage. 

“Due to all of this, St David’s Hospice is under extraordinary pressure and in 2025 we’ll be forecasting our third sizeable deficit, which is simply not sustainable. 

In order to maintain our current service delivery, we need decisive and urgent financial support from the Welsh Government today”. 

St David’s Hospice in North West Wales receives just 24% of its clinical costs through statutory funding and the remaining 76% must be raised through second hand shops, events, lottery subscriptions and donations.

For the past five years, secondhand sales through the hospices network of charity shops have provided more income than statutory funding.   

Richard continued: “Every person in our community deserves the right to quality end-of-life care and we already know that one in four people are not receiving the care they need.  

“The quality of respite and end of life services we offer in the rural communities of North West Wales are second to none and the multidisciplinary expertise we can offer as a third sector organisation is simply not replicated anywhere else”.

“The hospice fears that if the hospice deficit position is not addressed now, there will be no choice but to cut services which will mean even more pressure felt by the NHS.  

“The greater impact is that service reduction will also severely limit the health boards capability to meet the palliative and end-of-life care needs of our aging communities, and to achieve the goals set out in the Quality Statement for Wales. 

“The hospice sector is also pleading for a suitable commissioning framework before it is too late.  The budget announcement is a step in the right direction, but we need a fair, ongoing commitment to meet our staffing costs, and a commissioning framework which pays for the services which are commissioned.  We can then use our charitable donations to fund community-based services to patients and their families who need us now and in the future”.