Hospice's £2.6m cuts plan 'absolutely terrifying'

Graham, who has been bringing his wife Margaret to Ashgate Hospice, described the service as a "godsend"

Planned £2.6m cuts at a hospice in Derbyshire have been called "tragic" and "absolutely terrifying."

Ashgate Hospice, in Chesterfield, announced last week it had put 52 roles at risk of redundancy and warned it would have to "scale back" services.

The end-of-life care service blamed rising running costs on inflation, increasing energy bills and staff salaries.

Under the cost-cutting proposals, the hospice would see 600 fewer patients each year.

The hospice has already cut its 21 available beds to 15 due to insufficient funding, and these would be reduced further down to six, under the proposals.

Tracie Holocuk, whose mother and daughter died at Ashgate Hospice, now works as the inpatient unit's volunteer team leader.

She said news of the cuts "broke my heart".

"I just can't begin to imagine how many people are going to be suffering out there, when we're waiting to welcome them with open arms and open hearts to look after them, and we're not going to be able to do that," she said.

Tracie Holocuk's mum and daughter both passed away at the hospice

Graham Clayton has been bringing his 86-year-old wife Margaret to Ashgate Hospice for the past three months and described the service as a "godsend".

He said the planned cuts were "tragic".

"It can't be replaced. It just has to get funded," he said.

Mr Clayton added that his life had been "very lonely, very quiet" before he started coming to the hospice with his wife.

"We need this place. It's the only two days where we're out and about," he said.

Emma Sims, a registered nurse, said the problems Ashgate Hospice faced were being felt across the sector.

"It's absolutely terrifying," she said. "Jobs are few and far between in nursing at the moment, so trying to find something in an area that we're all so passionate about is challenging."

Registered nurse Emma Sims said the proposed cuts were "absolutely terrifying"

The hospice currently provides palliative care services to about 2,600 patients each year.

But Barbara-Anne Walker, the hospice's chief executive, said it was currently running at a cost of £18.5m a year, with cash reserves "critically low".

She described the cuts as "heartbreaking choices" but "necessary" to safeguard its future.

According to the campaign group Hospice UK, 32% of all hospice funding currently comes from the government, which is supplemented by fundraising and donations.

The Department for Health and Social Care said it was working to make the sector sustainable through its 10-year health plan and had already invested £100m to improve hospice facilities.