Nigel Hartley MBE, the CEO of Mountbatten, welcomes a funding boost for both Mountbatten Isle of Wight and Mountbatten Hampshire.
He told OnTheWight,
“Mountbatten is delighted to be receiving just over £330,400 for the 2024/5 financial year, split between Mountbatten Isle of Wight and Mountbatten Hampshire, as part of the first allocation of the emergency, one-off government fund for hospices in England, first announced in December (£100m over two years).
“Further amounts will be awarded after April, for 2025/6.
“The Mountbatten Group must spend its first allocation by the end of March and, according to December’s announcement, this must be a capital spend.
“What Mountbatten desperately needs is regular and secure funding, to allow us to retain existing expert clinical staff and to employ new people, so we can meet the needs of the growing number of people who need our hospice care.
“We are extremely grateful to be receiving this money, but we also want to set it in context. In 2024, Walk the Wight raised £560,000 for Mountbatten Isle of Wight. In 2023/4, supporters of Mountbatten Hampshire left us over £1,028,000 in their Wills.
“Running Mountbatten Isle of Wight costs around £10.5 million per year. It costs a further £10.5 million to run Mountbatten Hampshire.
“More people than ever need Mountbatten’s services. There has been a 250 per cent rise in people receiving care at home, in recent years with no extra money from commissioners at the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB).
“Less one third of the money we need to operate comes from the NHS.
“Two thirds of our funding comes from the community, through donations, gifts in Wills, fundraising and grants. It is this generosity that allows our expert staff to continue to support those who need us. We are increasingly reliant on this support and urge ICB commissioners to fulfil their responsibilities and properly fund hospice care, in line with recent NHS England guidelines.
“We acknowledge the government and Hospice UK have worked hard to find extra funding for hospices, but this is a short-term fix and it will not cover the cost of forthcoming National Insurance increases, nor allow us to match future NHS pay awards for our nurses and other key staff.
“In fact, we are still waiting to hear how much of the annual ICB End of Life Care budget will be allocated to hospices, even though the new financial year starts in just four weeks. Without this vital information we cannot properly plan and maintain end-of-life care sustainably.
“Health commissioners need to recognise the key role hospices play in reducing pressure on the NHS, shifting the focus of health services to the community — one of the government’s stated aims.
“Mountbatten’s staff provide services 24/7, in homes across large parts of Hampshire, Southampton and the Isle of Wight, to around 4,000 people on any one day, as well as in our two hospice buildings. There are already times when we cannot respond in the way we want or in the ways people need and deserve, because we simply do not have the financial resources to do so.”
