There appears to be little hope of increased funding for the Otago Community Hospice from the Otago District Health Board following an in-committee discussion by board members.
The board had requested further information from staff about hospice services at its August meeting. It wanted to know if the increased cost of providing the services it purchased from the hospice were appropriately funded, what additional services the hospice provided and how they had changed, and if any changes made by the hospice would have any cost or resource implications for Dunedin Hospital.
The information was discussed in the non-public session of the board's meeting last Thursday because of commercial sensitivity. Chairman Richard Thomson said after the meeting the board was not in a position to do more than it was doing now.
"The feeling remains that along with all the other services we fund, we have increased their funding as much as our funding has been increased. We are not able to go any further than that.
"The situation remains that we contract certain services from them and we fund them for providing those. They choose to provide a wider range of services than that and we applaud them for doing that. They provide services that are undeniably of value to the community."
The board is facing its own financial difficulties, with a $7.3 million deficit forecast for this financial year. It received a 3.2% funding increase - not enough to match wage increases for clinical staff.
When the hospice announced last month it would have to close four beds because of insufficient funds, the community rallied around and enabled the hospice trust board to keep the beds open for another year.
A $95,000 grant came from the Bendigo Valley Sports and Charity Foundation and a $45,000 grant was given from another organisation.
