Hospices face 'domino effect' of closures in funding crisis

Crisis will 'pile more pressure on NHS'

- Giles Sheldrick

HOSPICES are now so short of cash a "domino effect" will see widespread redundancies and closures, experts warned.

The alarm was sounded after Birmingham Hospice said a financial crisis had forced it to slash inpatient beds and cut the equivalent of 45 full-time roles - 14% of its overall workforce.

It was forced to act because of "unsustainable rising costs" and an estimated £2.4million deficit budget this year.

Most facilities providing end-oflife care are operating in the red and look set to follow suit in a crisis that would flood the NHS.

Toby Porter, chief executive of Hospice UK, said: "We think around a fifth of hospices are making cuts and with the level of deficits in the sector, this will only go up. This situation can't go on."