The hospice plans to reduce inpatient beds from 15 to six, with the loss of a nurse team leader, 12 full-time equivalent nurses and 10 FTE health care assistants and one senior health care assistant from the inpatient team. The RCN is worried that this is the first step in the complete removal of inpatient services at Ashgate Hospice.
The bed closures and redundancy plans were announced in October, despite ongoing discussions between NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) and the hospice regarding its funding.
David Kirwan, Head of Operations for the RCN East Midlands region, said: “We recognise that these are challenging financial times for hospices, but everyone involved needs to consider the importance of the services to the local community as well as the impact on the staff affected.
“We would urge the hospice’s management team and the ICB to work together to find a solution to this issue for the benefit of staff and patients alike. Our concern is that this is just the first step in the complete removal of inpatient services at Ashgate Hospice, as cutting the service to just six inpatient beds is arguably financially unviable.
“The love the local community has for the hospice and the work of its fantastic staff is undeniable, and the support they have given the hospice is phenomenal, but relying on the local community to raise funds is not a long-term solution. The hospice and ICB need to find some common ground to keep delivering these critical services.
“It is our understanding that there are further talks planned between the ICB and Ashgate Hospice in the coming weeks. In light of this development, we would urge the management team to put a hold on their plans until these discussions have taken place.”
RCN East Midlands Senior Regional Officer Jane O’Brien, who has been working with RCN members affected by the proposals, said: “This is causing massive concern for our members, who are now being subjected to a redundancy process in the run up to Christmas.
“They’re deeply upset by the management team’s handing of the situation, and there is significant confusion about why this is happening. Despite repeated requests, the management team have refused to allow the RCN and other unions into consultation meetings with their members.
“Given the seriousness of these proposals, we maintain that our members require support from the RCN due to our specialist expertise. We did ask Ashgate Hospice to suspend the consultation to allow us to engage fully with our members, but they refused. Now our members are beginning to attend their one-to-one meetings about their future role within the organisation.
“And while they are obviously worried about their own jobs and futures, there’s also a real concern for their patients. Members have told me that they are losing sleep worrying about the patients and what this means for them, and they are devastated to think they will no longer be able to offer the same support and service to local families at such a difficult time.
“There’s no doubt that reducing inpatient beds and cutting staff at Ashgate Hospice is going to increase pressure on other local NHS services, and there’s a real concern among our members that this is going to result in people at the end of their lives facing an undignified death on a corridor in an emergency department, instead of in a loving, caring environment receiving the specialist support that the staff at Ashgate Hospice deliver.”
ENDS
