Hospice consults staff on how to save £1.1m

Roger, right, is "eternally grateful" to the Garden House Hospice for rehabilitation after a hospital stay

A hospice is starting a 30-day consultation with staff to explore ways to save money as it continues to battle a £1.1m shortfall.

Garden House Hospice Care in Hertfordshire said it might have to make at least 20 staff redundant in efforts to close its funding gap.

The centre, in Letchworth Garden City, put the shortfall partly down to a dip in public donations — which make up 71% of its total funding — across the charity sector in general.

The charity said its full range of services, which cost £8.5m a year, would remain in place for the duration of the consultation, which also involves volunteers and service users.

Lisa Hunt said the hospice "has no choice but to act" to save money

The hospice said in a statement online that the comfort it provided to people in the last stages of life was "irreplaceable".

Chief executive officer Lisa Hunt added: "An elective operation can be rescheduled - a death cannot.

"We now have no choice but to act, so implementing a plan we never wanted to use is our only way of sustaining Garden House for the future.

"We are confident that taking immediate action will enable us to protect hospice care for our current and future patients and their families."

The charity warned that if it took no action, it could run out of the funds it needed by next April.

It said all decisions made after the end of the consultation period would be shared appropriately with stakeholders.