Jobs saved in Chesterfield as Ashgate Hospice given lifeline

The charity, which employs more than 300 people, has secured an agreement to work in partnership with the NHS Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to ‘help shape end-of-life care and plans for north Derbyshire’.

Staff have been informed the hospice will now not have to make redundancies and cut services in the New Year as previously feared.

Hospice chief executive Barbara-Anne Walker said she was ‘delighted that the CCG has confirmed its commitment to Ashgate’.

“It is such a huge relief to know that we will be able to provide the care our community needs both now and into the future,” she said.

"It will also ensure that we will be able to continue to see as many patients as we do now, and we are able to continue to offer the same high-quality care that our patients deserve.

“It has been an incredibly worrying time for staff, and we couldn’t have achieved this outcome without the support of our local community and healthcare colleagues who have spoken up for us.

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"Hundreds of people campaigned on our behalf, they shone a light on Ashgate’s situation, which meant that our plight could not be ignored.

"What they have achieved collectively is nothing short of incredible.”

Like many charities, the hospice has seen its income dramatically hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in at least £2.4 million in lost revenue.

Barbara-Anne said the outlook for fundraising and retail remains ‘extremely challenging’, but she now had more confidence the hospice will ‘be able to weather this storm’.

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Richard Chapman, the CCG’s chief finance officer, said: “We are pleased that the CCG, on behalf of the wider NHS system, has been able to work with the hospice over recent weeks to assure colleagues there of the value we place on the specialist services provided by their excellent staff.”

The deal was also welcomed by Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins, who said it had been an ‘incredibly worrying time’ for staff and patients.

"This will be a massive relief to the 300 dedicated staff who work there, but also to the community as a whole,” he said.

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