Chesterfield's Ashgate Hospice 'will lose £400,000' through second lockdown. Here's how you can help

Bosses at the much-loved hospice described the the new lockdown as a ‘further blow, as the charity prepares to close its 14 shops, three coffee shops and donation centre at Hasland for a second time from Thursday.

The charity, which provides specialist end-of-life care to patients across north Derbyshire, was already reporting a £2 million black hole due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Just last week, Ashgate Hospicecare launched an urgent Winter Crisis Appeal, encouraging the community to help them care for patients through their most difficult winter yet.

This followed an earlier announcement that the charity would be seeking voluntary redundancies, which it has now made, and was unable to rule out compulsory redundancies.

Barbara-Anne Walker, chief executive of Ashgate Hospicecare, said: “Ensuring the delivery of our compassionate end of life care throughout this pandemic has been the utmost priority for us all at Ashgate Hospicecare.

“But with our shops set to close and with our fundraising scaled back or cancelled, we are facing an uphill battle to survive. Even before the crisis hit, we were facing long-term funding challenges, as the amount Ashgate receives from local health budgets has not increased since 2014.

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“In addition, our teams have been working around the clock to meet the growing and more complex needs of our community, yet less than a third of our total costs are covered by local health budgets.

“That means, we still have to raise 72 per cent of the funds we need to provide end of life care for desperately ill patients across North Derbyshire every year.”

As part of the Winter Crisis Appeal, the hospice has produced an emotional video.

Featured in the video are Lynn and Andy Gibson, from Brimington, Chesterfield, who experienced first-hand the crucial support provided by Ashgate Hospicecare.

“Mum didn’t want to go into a nursing home or go to hospital. She wanted to stay at home, and I said I would do whatever I could to make that happen,” said Lynn. “In fact, the support we had from Ashgate was just phenomenal.”

To support the appeal, visit www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk/winter-crisis-appeal/ or phone 01246 567250.

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