Hospice leaders in Yorkshire have issued a direct plea to their local MP Chancellor John Healey for urgent funding to bridge a worsening financial gap for the delivery of vital care.

Officials at Rotherham Hospice estimate they face a deficit of half a million pounds in 2026-27.

Now they have published an open letter to Rawmarsh and Conisbrough MP John Healey and two other local Labour MPs warning they can no longer rely on fund-raising and demanding more taxpayer support to run services.

Rotherham hospice faces a gap of more than £2m a year after the funding it receives from the NHS and relies on charitable giving to plug the shortfall.

Rotherham Hospice cares for over 1,700 patients a year and needs to raise over £6 million a year to continue their Outstanding care.

placeholder image — Rotherham Hospice cares for over 1,700 patients a year and needs to raise over £6 million a year to continue their Outstanding care.

It has been forced to shut a charity shop in Wath-upon-Dearne and a café in Swinton as it battles the rising cost of national insurance and pay pressures for staff.

In the letter, chief executive Mat Cottle-Shaw said the hospice needed “breathing space” through a sustainable funding plan otherwise services and staff faced being cut even though a predicted 25,000 people would need palliative care in Rotherham in the next decade.

“We should be preparing to reach more people, earlier in their illness, with care at home and inpatient support when needed. Instead, we are having to consider contraction,” he told the Yorkshire Post.

The hospice, which has 14 inpatient beds and provides a range of community services, has a long-term NHS funding deal but this fell £2m short of the cost of services it was expected to deliver.

He was “deeply disappointed” there was no extra recurring funding for adult hospices in last week’s Budget.

“Rotherham’s families need to know that when they need us, we will be there. For some, another Budget will come too late,” he said.

“Our colleagues deserve fair pay. But successive minimum wage increases, higher employer national insurance costs and the pressure to keep pace with NHS pay awards must be recognised in the funding of the care they deliver.

“Hospices recruit from the same workforce as the NHS. We cannot indefinitely absorb those pressures through more fund-raising.”

The service is backing a campaign by Hospice UK which has made an initial request to Ministers for £112.5m in recurring annual funding in England.

In the letter, he said increased investment would reduce avoidable demand on NHS services.

“Give us the funding to provide more care, agree clear expectations around avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions, supporting earlier discharge and reducing pressure on GPs, and measure what we deliver.

“We are ready to demonstrate the difference that investment could make.

“We should be funding the care that helps people avoid a hospital admission as well as paying for the bed once they get there.

“Allowing hospice services to contract while finding more money to manage pressure elsewhere in the NHS makes little sense – for families or for the public purse.”

He said the NHS funded core staff to deliver hospital maternity services.

“Why must hospices rely on charity appeals and collection buckets to pay the specialist nurses caring for people at the other end of life?”