North Yorkshire hospices face cuts amid funding crisis

The stark warning will be presented to North Yorkshire Council’s Scrutiny of Health Committee, with hospice leaders revealing redundancies have already been made and further job losses are planned.

They say funding has become “unsustainable” as demand for end-of-life care rises.

The concerns have been raised by Tony Collins, chief executive of Saint Michael’s Hospice and Herriot Hospice, Emma Johnson, chief executive of St Leonard’s Hospice, and Jenny Flinton and Joanne Sayles, co-acting chief executives of St Catherine’s Hospice.

Together, the hospices provide 48 specialist inpatient beds, community end-of-life care, outpatient clinics, lymphoedema services, bereavement counselling and family support.

But the hospice leaders say the beds alone cost about £11.2m a year, while NHS funding is just £4m.

The charities must raise £7.2m just to keep the beds open, before paying for their other services.

In their report, the hospice chiefs warn: “The result is stark: we are being pushed quickly towards decisions that could mean reducing or closing services that patients and families rely on.”

They say NHS funding has failed to keep pace with rising wages, National Insurance, the National Minimum Wage and other costs.

For 2026/27, the three organisations have been offered a 2.75 per cent increase, provided they move from grant agreements to contracts, while their costs are rising by more than seven per cent.

The report states an additional £744,043 was made available by the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to hospices across its area, but just £76,876 was initially allocated to the three serving North Yorkshire and York.

Saint Michael’s and Herriot received no extra funding, St Leonard’s received £25,357 and St Catherine’s £51,519 — but the latter sum was later withdrawn.

Hospice chiefs say they have received no communication about where the withdrawn money has gone.

They say all three organisations are now budgeting for substantial deficits to keep existing services running.

“With non-salary costs already reduced to baseline levels, hospices are now being forced into workforce reductions, with redundancies already made and further redundancies being planned,” the report warns.

“Inevitably, this increases the risk of service reductions and, in some cases, potential closure.”

The hospice leaders also criticise the ICB’s lack of clarity over end-of-life care and say it rejected their proposal for a longer-term funding system based on activity levels.

They add: “Without urgent action, the current position will undermine the stability of hospice care across North Yorkshire and York, with direct consequences for patients, families and the wider health and care system.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has asked the ICB for a response.