Shropshire bosses saddened over hospice closure
Bosses at Shropshire’s Hope House children’s hospices today told of their “immense sadness” after Acorns announced proposals to close one of its bases.
Acorns has three specialist children’s hospices, providing care and support to youngsters and their families from around the region including Shropshire, the West Midlands and Staffordshire.
But because of rising running costs and a drop in donations it could cease offering care from September if the move goes ahead.
A total of 70 full-time and part-time staff face losing their jobs.
Andy Goldsmith, chief executive of Hope House Children’s Hospices, based in Shropshire, said today the visionary volunteers who established Hope House in the early 1990s were helped immensely by the trustees and senior managers of Acorns Children’s Hospice, and this was the start of an ongoing strong relationship between the two hospice charities.
He said: “We stand shoulder to shoulder with Acorns at this difficult time and we have offered our support to the charity, their staff and to children and families from Shropshire who are affected.”
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He added that the financial situation for all hospices remained challenging, particularly with the ongoing uncertainty over NHS funding. Hope House Children’s Hospices receive just 12 per cent of their annual running costs this way, but it still accounts for more than one month’s running costs.
“Each year our costs rise and each year we need to raise more money to pay for the hospices and specialist staff,” added Mr Goldsmith.
“Hope House is grateful that we have so far been able to cover our £6.3 million annual running costs through the fantastic generosity of the local community. It is only this support that enabled us to deliver care and support to 840 children and adults in 2018 and to continue that care today.
"We send our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supports us. Sadly, however, we know that we are not reaching every terminally ill child, or supporting every family that has suffered the devastating death of their child.”
