“It’s changed my life. I just wish I could win the lottery to put something back into the hospice.”
Those are the emotional words of a day patient at St Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham, which for more than three decades has been providing people with life-limiting illnesses both “vital” support and care.
But despite the hospice continuing to change lives daily, it faces an “existential risk” - with spiralling financial costs leaving services under threat and 28 staff facing redundancy.
The news - which would mean about 250 fewer people will receive a service from the hospice next year - has been branded a “travesty”, with some saying they “just can’t believe” services could be cut due to the crisis.
This week, The Northern Echo reporter Alex O’Leary visited St Cuthbert’s at its home in Park House, where it has remained since 1988, to speak to those impacted by the hospice every day.
For those walking into a hospice for the first time, the feeling can be a mixture of anxiety and fear of the unknown.
But all that dissipates the moment anyone passes the “threshold” through the doors - and is met with what staff describe as a “hospice hug”.
Laura McKenzie, communications, marketing and engagement manager, described the feeling: “As we see somebody walk through the threshold, they just deserted all of their stress and their worries just washed away.
“We have a lot of people who come in and say they just feel relief when they walk in.
“We have people come here and it is not unusual to hear children describe it as a hotel with doctors. That’s the interpretation people have.”
And one care user who speaks highly of St Cuthbert’s is Elaine Tynemouth, who has cancer and is a day patient at the hospice’s Living Well Centre, visiting every week for blood transfusions.
The 83-year-old couldn’t be clearer - the hospice has truly changed her life.
She said: “Before I was coming to the hospice, I was going to hospital, and it was horrendous. I was waiting for blood in A&E.
“I had just lost my best friend and I have got cancer, and the people at the hospice are just wonderful. They take care of me.”
Elaine said her son even pointed out that she “tells everybody about the hospice” - and struggles to put into words how much it has positively benefited her life.
“It is just a wonderful place,” Elaine, from Coxhoe, said. “I look forward to seeing everyone every week. I don’t know what else to say.
“As soon as I walked through the doors for the first time for a chat with the girls, and I was told I could get blood transfusions here, I was over the moon.
“It gives me something to put my lipstick on for - I felt dreadful this morning but I pushed myself to come here, which I do every week.”
This week, the hospice confirmed that it faces a deficit of around £1.3 million this financial year; while the charity can plug the gap this financial year with reserves, this will not be possible the following year.
CEO Paul Marriott said both the day service and adult bereavement service is set to be impacted by the cuts.
The grandmother-of-two said she “just can’t believe” the news that the hospice was being forced to make these cuts due to spiralling financial costs: “I just wish I could win the lottery to put something back into the hospice. It is so unfair.”
‘This is their safe space’
The announcement last week detailed how 28 staff of the 124-strong workforce face redundancy, as the charity struggles to cope with growing financial pressures.
One of those staff at risk is Heather Cook, from Langley Park, who is a part-time bereavement councillor and has worked at the site for about nine years.
But even in this tricky time for all the staff at the hospice, one of her first thoughts was the impact it will have on the care and service users.
The 65-year-old said: “It is awful that it is happening to me - but I am thinking about all of the people that are not going to get any help from this service. We need more funding.”
Heather, who started as a volunteer, said: “The patient bereavement support team is amazing - we support people at their most difficult times.
“This is their safe space to offload what they are carrying - some of the people really are in dark places.
“I think, even from my point of view, I had a family member here - my dad - so we all understand the importance of the hospice.
“The impact of the hospice is that people’s families can be with their loved ones and the nurses - and everyone - can look after the whole family.
“They come down to the hospice and realise it is completely different to what they thought it was going to be.”
‘A travesty’
For senior staff nurse Joanne O’Brien, the impact of the hospice being forced to cut back both jobs and services is a “travesty” for the community.
The 53-year-old, who has worked at the site for 14 years, said she feels passionate about the hospice, describing how people initially afraid to come to the site immediately feel a sense of relief after entering the “bright and happy” space.
She said: “Some people come into the in-patient unit and we take them down to look at the rooms and the surprise they have when they see the rooms are not like a hospital.
“There are so many different things happening here from therapy to dementia services.”
While Joanne isn’t at risk of redundancy, her role is set to dramatically change as the wider department she works within are at risk of major reductions.
Recommended reading:
- St Cuthbert's Hospice, in Durham, in crisis as jobs at risk
- St Cuthbert's Hospice: Durham MP calls for intervention
- Rachel Reeves: Hospices are 'under pressure' due to cuts
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She fears how this will impact people receiving the care, recalling how some people who use the hospice have told her they would “rather die than go back to a hospital”.
“I can’t imagine the impact [the cuts] will have. It will be a travesty for the community,” she said.
“Until you have been touched by hospice care, it is very difficult to understand the difference it makes. As soon as you are, you realise what a travesty it is for something like this not to be available.”
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