We will continue to provide our full range of services to Cumbernauld and Kilsyth for the foreseeable future. We are committed to negotiating with North Lanarkshire Integrated Joint Board to secure adequate ongoing funding. You can read our full statement below.
Strathcarron Hospice has provided specialist palliative care to Cumbernauld and Kilsyth for 38 years. During this time, we have developed a more comprehensive range of high quality services than those offered by Hospices elsewhere in Lanarkshire. These services are independently inspected to provide quality assurance and our services have been found to be both innovative and responsive to the needs of patients.
The cost to the Hospice of the services we provide to NHS Lanarkshire is £1.885 million. If NHS Lanarkshire contributed at the previously agreed rate of 50% then they should pay Strathcarron Hospice £942,000 for the services they receive. This year we have received a contribution of £569,000. The Integrated Joint Board (IJB) had sought to further reduce our funding by £92,000 as well as reducing our bed usage - to which we strongly objected. As a result, at the March meeting of the IJB, in recognition that the demand for our services had not reduced in the way that they had anticipated, they restored our funding to £569,000. They have also confirmed that we will receive the same level of funding for 2019/20 but have not committed to more than one year's funding.
The IJB plan to review our contract in December 2019, following a public consultation in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth through the locality planning group. There is no certainty of funding beyond 2020 and a risk that at the very least, they will wish to provide much less funding for Strathcarron services.
We could not continue to provide services for less and less money with no financial security as this risks destabilising Strathcarron Hospice as an organisation. We also do not find it acceptable to be "excluded" from the mainstream palliative care arrangements and treated differently to other Hospices in Lanarkshire.
The key message at the moment is that the contract continues and we will continue to accept referrals and provide the best service possible to the people of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth.