Strathcarron has joined forces with other hospices across the country to warn of a funding crisis over rising running costs.
The Denny hospice has to raise almost £120,000 every week to continue providing its services to users and their families.
But increases in everything from wage bills to heating costs over recent months and years have piled on the pressure.
This week Strathcarron appealed to “valued supporters” to challenge the Scottish Government on better state funding in its next budget and to sign an online letter to local MSPs.
Mags McCarthy, Strathcarron Hospice CEO said: “Strathcarron, like all other local hospices, is funded by the communities it serves.
“As a charity, we need to raise £116,459 every single week to provide all specialist end of life and palliative care services. We rely on the incredible generosity of local people to raise the shortfall that the NHS don’t fund.
“Our hospice services support over 400 people a week in their own homes across Forth Valley and North Lanarkshire areas. That is as many as we care for in our In-Patient Unit.
“Since 2006, the hospice has seen a steady increase in referrals – now 76 per cent higher – and despite this, the NHS have not funded additional posts and we have had to meet all the cost pressures through supporter donations.
“To match NHS rates of pay to recruit and retain our staff will significantly push up our wage bill. This could be devastating for the hospice and we are feeling enormous pressure.
“We are incredibly grateful to our generous supporters, without their donations, we just could not carry on.”
Strathcarron is also a signatory on a Scottish Hospice Leadership Group letter outlining the current funding crisis across all hospices. It says: “Hospice funding is in crisis. Hospices provide dignified care for around 21,000 patients and their families every year, but are struggling enormously.
“Hospices are a key part of the health and care system, but we aren’t part of the NHS. We are charities that rely on generous donations and fundraising to employ thousands of nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, counsellors, and support staff.
“When NHS salaries rise, hospices face the extra costs, but aren’t covered by the government pay awards. This is grossly unfair.
“This year alone, salaries have risen by 5.5 per cent for NHS clinical and support staff and 10.5 per cent for consultant doctors. For hospices, matching this is near impossible.
“The cost of heating, transport and supplies has soared. From April, the National Insurance hikes alone will add a further £2.5m to hospices’ wage bill. And the share of NHS funding for hospices is declining. Scottish hospices face an insurmountable funding gap.
“Hospice care is always free, and brilliant. There is now a risk that, for the first time ever, hospices will have to turn people away.
“Cutting services is the last thing any of us want to do. It would break our hearts. We promise to do try everything we can to avoid that, but we also have to balance the books. It doesn’t have to be like this. The Scottish budget is an opportunity for our political parties to forge a new course.
“Hospices are the core of palliative care, not just a place people go to die. Our dedicated staff work in hospices, in patients’ homes and NHS hospitals. They help people live for whatever time they have remaining. They provide specialist education and training to NHS colleagues.
“They prevent many people being admitted to hospital, and help others to die with dignity in their home or a hospice. They support families in grief and help them recover.
“Supporting hospices is not only the right thing to do for patients and families; it is the right thing to do for the health care system. Hospice care reduces pressure on our overstretched NHS.
“Ahead of the Scottish Government Budget in December, we are urgently calling for cross-party consensus on sustainable hospice funding, so care at the end of life is as it should be and everyone has access to palliative care where and when they need it. Decision-makers can’t let this opportunity to support these vital services pass by.”
To sign Strathcarron’s letter visit: https://action.hospiceuk.org/stand-up-for-scottish-hospices