Hospices to merge amid financial pressures
GoogleTwo hospices are set to merge in a move that appears to have saved one from imminent closure.
Butterwick Hospice and Teesside Hospice have "agreed in principle" to work together on services including end of life care for people across the Tees Valley and County Durham.
Accounts for Butterwick Hospice, which has bases in Stockton and Bishop Auckland, showed the charity would "run out of cash" and could not continue unless external rescue talks succeeded.
Outgoing Butterwick CEO Edward Gorringe said the merger with Middlesbrough-based Teesside Hospice would secure its services and the joint group intended to grow "for years to come".
He said the "primary reason" for the merger was to "build a stronger, more sustainable hospice".
Gorringe said: "All hospices at the minute are challenged and our funding is limited, costs are going up at a rate that is higher than income is coming in."
Butterwick's accounts, published on Companies House in March, said its poor financial outlook was due in part to "higher than anticipated" costs associated with the reopening of the Adult In-Patient Unit in 2024.
Gorringe said work to boost its Care Quality Commission rating had also "really squeezed" its finances.
SuppliedTeesside Hospice CEO Mike Thornicroft said the merger would ensure it was financially sustainable amid the "ever increasing need" for its services.
"It just made absolute sense to come together to co-operate rather than be competing for money that is in very short supply in our community," he said.
The combined hospices would be run by a shared senior management team, with a consultation ongoing into redundancies including for Butterwick's CEO and director of care.
Jointly, the hospices would support more than 6,700 people across the region, the charities added.
