70 jobs at risk as children’s hospice faces closure

70 jobs are at risk after children’s hospice charity Acorns revealed plans to close one of its West Midlands sites.

Acorns has begun consultation with staff on a proposal to cease offering services for its children’s hospice facility in Walsall, which opened in 1999.

The charity says it has no choice but to make the proposal despite the “tremendous goodwill and support it has always and continues to enjoy from the local communities”.

The costs of providing high quality children’s hospice care, it says, is rising each year and outstripping its ability to raise the funds needed to sustainably run three separate children’s hospices.

If the proposal is confirmed, all children and families currently receiving their care from the Walsall hospice will be invited to access the services at one of its other two children’s hospices, located in Birmingham and Worcester.

“Our absolute priority will be to demonstrate to these families that they will still be able to receive the high standards of care from Acorns that they are used to receiving at our Walsall hospice,” the charity said.

If implemented the proposal would mean families attending Walsall would over the next few weeks be given information and support on how Acorns would potentially welcome and care for their child at either its Birmingham or Worcester hospices.

“We recognise and regret the anxiety and disappointment this proposal will cause families currently accessing our services at Walsall, and we will dedicate ourselves to listening and supporting the families in every way that we can,” an online statement said. “The families are the reason that we exist.”

It says that based on geography and travel times, the proposal would anticipate approximately two thirds of families currently using the Walsall hospice being ‘invited to receive their residential stays and services in future from the children’s hospice in Birmingham, and one third from Worcester’.

“In common with many other hospices, we spent in the last financial year significantly more on delivering our care than we raised from our shops and our supporters, and from our partnership with the NHS. In the year just ended, we have been able to make up the shortfall from our charitable reserves, which are kept for that purpose. However, this is not sustainable, not least given the economic uncertainty ahead.”

The charity says it has worked hard over the past two years to try and secure additional funding and to reduce our costs but has reached the stage where a major change in its delivery model is now necessary.

Acorns confirmed, however, it would provide families continued access to community services through its Family Service and Outreach.