Trinity Hospice joins national call for funding during Hospice Care Week

New research announced this week shows more money is spent in hospice charity shops across the UK than hospices receive from the government.

And Trinity Hospice, which provides outstanding palliative and end-of-life care to people across Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre, is supporting umbrella charity Hospice UK as it takes the issue to Parliament this week where it will call on the government to replace its inadequate funding model to better serve those who need specialist hospice care.

Trinity Hospice and Brian House Children’s Hospice have more than 30 charity shops across the Fylde coast, including its book and music shops, dedicated menswear shops Attire by Trinity Hospice in Lytham and in St Annes, and its newest Bambino shop in St Annes, selling pre-loved children’s items. Overall, the hospice’s retail activities now raise over £1m.

Head of Retail, Paul Guest, said: “The income raised through our shops has grown significantly in the last five years as we identify new locations and new ways to offer pre-loved items to charity shoppers across the Fylde coast.

“This is only possible thanks to the dedication of our shop staff and an incredible team of volunteers, and the generous people who support our work on the high street; whether they regularly donate high-quality items for us to sell or visit our shops for a bargain while supporting local hospice care.

“Our shops are commented on for their professional look and feel, as well as the items we sell – not just by local people popping by, but from national charities who see our work on social media. That’s testament to the hard work that goes into each and every one of our stores and is a credit to our fantastic retail team.”

This week is Hospice Care Week, and this year the theme is focussing on the difference hospice charity shops make in their communities as the sector struggles with the mounting financial pressures of providing vital end-of-life care.

While Hospice UK, which represents more than 200 hospices nationwide, is celebrating the incredible work of retail staff and their generous customers in supporting the provision of hospice care, the charity warns that second hand shops and other local fundraising can’t be responsible for plugging the projected £60m funding gap in hospice care this year.

Chief Executive, David Houston, added: “Our shops are an incredible asset to Trinity Hospice, not only raising a significant amount of money for our charity – the most they’ve ever made for Trinity and Brain House – but also by sharing the work and wider impact of our hospice on our high street.

“While Trinity Hospice Retail is an incredible local success story, it is also a vital source of funding for hospice care in Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre. Without our shops, we would have to find new ways of raising over £1m in a community that already does so much to support our charity at increasingly financially-pressured time.

“Over 10 years ago, our government funding covered 35% of our overall annual costs. But because of inflation and a lack of sustainable increases to this grant, it now covers less than 27% of our annual budgeted costs.

“At the same time, demands for our care continue to increase, saving a huge amount in NHS resources.

“Now is the time for the government to fundamentally tackle this funding crisis so that all those who need access to consistently good palliative and end-of-life care, which is free at the point of need, are able to do so.”

Hospice UK’s research reveals that charity shops would have to sell 5,375 pairs of jeans to fund a palliative care nurse for a year and a further 43,000 blouses to provide a patient with a hospice bed for the same period of time.

The organisation is calling for emergency support from government to stem the tide of hospice cutbacks, and for long term reform of hospice funding so that hospices are fairly funded for the services they provide.