Hospices face pay burden

by Joanna Moorhead CATHOLIC hospices may have to close wards and cut back on staff unless they get extra help to meet the nurses' pay award.
The 15.3 per cent average rise given by the Government this year has led to an "intensely serious" situation for Britain's 102 voluntary hospices, according to John Scott, administrator of St Joseph's Hospice in Hackney, East London.
"The award is going to cost us at least £163,000 a year. If we have to pay it ourselves, it will mean a big increase in our fundraising activities, and we already get £1 million a year from voluntary contributions."
"It would be nice to be able to concentrate more on patient care instead of having to put so much effort just into surviving," said Mr Scott.
Canon Joseph Lyons, administrator of St Gemma's Hospice in Leeds, said he had no reason to think St Gemma's would get any help in meeting the extra £100,000 the pay award was expected to cost.
"We'll just have to find the money somehow. This year our costs will be around £1.3 million, and 80 per cent of that will have to come from voluntary contributions."
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Security said health authorities had been asked for details of how they dealt with hospices, and that "something further" might be done.