Hartlepool hospice announces difficult decision to close eight-bed long term care unit due to £755,000 funding shortfall

The hospice, based at Wells Avenue, Hartlepool, says it has taken the difficult decision after exploring “every possible avenue” to try and save the service.

The unit’s eight private rooms offer 24-hour nursing care to palliative patients in their last year of life provided by a specialist team, reducing pressures on the NHS.

But the hospice says they are operating at a loss of £275,000 per year.

Alice House co-chief executive officers Sandra Britten and Nicola Haggan said: “This is not an outcome we ever wanted and we have explored all known avenues to try and save this service.”

The hospice says it has been hit hard by the cost of living crisis and increased operating costs contributing to a £380,000 annual overspend.

It is also facing a projected £295,000 reduction in fundraising.

Efforts to try to fund the beds at a sustainable level proved unsuccessful.

A date for the unit’s closure has not been finalised and the hospice is supporting patients and families to find suitable alternative accommodation.

Ms Britten and Ms Haggan added: “We understand the anxiety and disappointment that this will cause for patients and their families, as well as our own staff, all of whom will be fully supported and updated in every way that we can.

“The closure of the long-term Unit is essential to safeguard the future of the hospice and we would like to assure people that our core services, including the inpatient unit, will remain unaffected.”

Hospice chiefs are exploring ways of re-using the space.