The contract equates to £829,000 annually, which allows for an average of 7 patients and up to 9 people (depending on availability on the unit) at a time to be cared for by the Hospice’s experienced and caring nurses. This service has been running since 2018, following a successful pilot that started in December 2017. In the last year, this service has allowed us to care for 221 people and their loved ones. 

In 2025 and early 2026, government grants from the Department of Health and Social Care became available and were strictly restricted for use on capital projects with specific application criteria. 

Unfortunately, due to the grant restrictions, this grant is not transferable to support the running costs of the Hospice, including the contract with CUH. 

Our Trustee Board and CEO, Sharon Allen, continue to work with the NHS and other partners to demonstrate the impact of our care for our local community. We continue to explore alternative solutions to avoid the devastating impact of the closure for many people in our local community. We are working very hard to explore all options and opportunities available to us. 

Our Trustee Board, many of whom have had personal experience of the service, are committed to maximising quality end-of-life care for the community of Cambridgeshire. The Senior Leadership Team is working with system partners to identify how this can be achieved, and Trustees are willing to use a limited amount of reserves for a transition period to establish a new service model. 

Over half of our net assets is the cost of the hospice building that provides such a wonderful environment for those who are treated in our In Patient Unit as well as a base for all of the other services that we provide. These facilities were built thanks to the generosity of the community in Cambridgeshire who raised the funding needed, it belongs to all of you. The remainder of our net assets are the free reserves that we need to operate the charity with financial resilience.

Our surpluses over the last few years have averaged around £500k once any exceptional funding during the Covid-19 pandemic is excluded. This would not be enough to cover the cost of the contract with CUH. In addition, our surpluses have arisen due to the generosity of local individuals and organisations which are extremely welcome, but cannot be guaranteed in the future.

Our ‘Protect Our Care’ campaign was launched alongside the news to ask our community to raise important funds. We have been overwhelmed by the heartfelt reaction of our community, who have shared passionate stories, organised events to fundraise and made change-making donations. Thanks to the collective generosity of our community, we are delighted that we will be able to keep the threatened beds open for a further twelve months until April 2027. 

However, this is a welcome but temporary reprieve for twelve months, so our work and the support we need doesn’t stop there. Over the coming months, we will continue to explore new sustainable funding opportunities and plan for increased fundraising needs. Our next step is to look at different service models and how these could be funded, accepting that unfortunately there are no guarantees this will be possible. We do not want to be in the same position in September 2026, where our beds are again under threat of closure in six months’ time due to funding not being secured. 

If future funding is not secured to make a new service sustainable, unfortunately we will care for fewer people in the future, to protect our other services for specialist end-of-life care. We see this scenario as a last resort, but given the current financial situation, we would have no other choice but to reduce our capacity to care for people. For now, due to the generous response of our community, we have protected our care for twelve months, but this is not a long-term solution, and our services are still at risk until secure funding can be obtained. 

We want to assure colleagues, supporters and our local community that we are exploring all possible opportunities to secure future sustainable funding. 

As an organisation our priority is the care of our patients and their loved ones. Therefore, we are careful and effective stewards of our financial sustainability and continually review. We work with our colleagues to review non-essential expenditure, looking at alternative income generation and seeking efficiencies across all areas of the charity. 

The notice of our contract ending was unexpected and gave limited opportunities to seek alternative funders to date. The generosity of our community and supporters gives us more time to secure sustainable funding for the service. Our Trustee Board will continue to explore opportunities to find sustainable income to protect our financial reserves, needed for the long-term viability of the charity, and this important service. 

No, all our services are free of charge to patients and are funded through previously secured funding from the NHS and ongoing charitable donations from our generous community. 

Unfortunately, we are not alone. Data from Hospice UK reveals that as many as 2 in 5 hospices are planning to make cuts this year due to funding difficulties and that 85% are currently running a deficit this financial year.  

With demand increasing, the stark reality of insufficient and unsustainable funding leaves hospices with no option but to reduce or close services just as they should be expanding. 

2 in 5 hospices planning to make cuts this year | Hospice UK 

There are lots of ways you can support us:

• Please share our important updates with your network
• Consider making a donation, particularly if you are able to commit to a regular gift
• Join a local event or challenge
• You can support our retail shops,
• or Pop into the Hospice Bistro for lunch, afternoon tea or a Sunday roast.
• If you are connected to local businesses, please encourage them to speak to us – if 40 businesses were able to donate or fundraise £20k over the next year, we would have enough to pay for a further year of care. Please encourage them to partner with us or select us as Charity of the Year.
• If you are thinking longer term, please consider leaving a gift in your Will.  

Unfortunately, we are not alone. Data from Hospice UK reveals that as many as 2 in 5 hospices are planning to make cuts this year due to funding difficulties, and that 85% are currently running a deficit this financial year. 

With demand increasing, the stark reality of insufficient and unsustainable funding leaves hospices with no option but to reduce or close services just as they should be expanding. 

2 in 5 hospices planning to make cuts this year | Hospice UK 

The Nurse Led Beds contract held with CUH will no longer exist from 1 April 2026. We will rename these beds to Medically Light Beds to mark this change from this date.

Medically Light beds are hospice beds designed for people who need extra support but do not require the level of care provided in our specialist beds. These patients may be struggling at home, may not want to be admitted to hospital, or may be approaching the last hours or days of life and would prefer to be cared for in a calm, supportive hospice environment. 

People may be coming from home or from a local hospital if they wish to spend their final days in a hospice rather than on a hospital ward. 

Medically Light beds also help us manage overall capacity. Patients may move between specialist beds and Medically Light beds depending on their needs at the time, allowing us to provide the right level of support to more people. 

Nurse Led Beds were reserved specifically for patients transferred from CUH. Medically Light Beds, however, are available to patients from any location in our county, giving more flexibility and helping more people access hospice care when they need it. 

We are continuing to refine our referral routes, but most people can access advice, support, and referral by calling 111 and selecting option 4. If a Medically Light Bed is appropriate, nurses can arrange a referral directly.