A CHARITY has permanently closed its day hospice in the borough.
Sue Ryder Duchess of Kent Hospice has shut its base at Wokingham Community Hospital, just three years after receiving a £200,000 donation.
It was gifted by Wokingham District Cancer Care Trust to keep the services running as the trust merged with the hospice.
Now, the decision to close has been informed by a review of the day services, which had seen a decline in Wokingham before the pandemic.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “While all our day services are currently closed due to coronavirus, our day hospice site in Wokingham will not be continuing, as attendee numbers have been reducing for some time.
“We will keep our day services in Reading and in Newbury and patients from the Wokingham area will be invited to these sites.
“We will also keep the Wokingham community services including the clinical nurse specialists, doctors and therapists.”
They added: “The day hospice teams at Wokingham are all being offered alternative roles within the organisation.”
The hospice said the review was conducted to ensure it is using limited funds in the best way possible.
The spokesperson said: “The outbreak of coronavirus meant that we fast-forwarded to the testing of some of the virtual methods that we were planning to look at and we have been very pleased with how those methods have worked for our patients.
“Adding some virtual care into our day service provision at Duchess of Kent is only one of the improvements that we will be making, along with increasing the face-to-face, tailored, therapeutic support for patients provided by our consultants and clinical nurse specialists, supported by our multidisciplinary healthcare team at the hospice.
“We are in the process of shaping the details of the new model, but support from our wonderful team of volunteers will remain an integral part of the offering and please be reassured that our intention is to offer more care to more people, not less to fewer.”
Back in April, the charity warned it was facing a £12 million funding gap, after its usual fundraising activities were put on hold due to the lockdown.
It launched a fundraising appeal, calling for support from the public.
In 2017, the day hospice was given £200,000 by Wokingham District Cancer Care Trust, which decided to merge with Sue Ryder to run the hospice.
The community group, which ran for 26 years said that fundraising had become increasingly difficult and because the two charities shared similar aims, it was appropriate to join forces.
At the time, Dr Martin Haslam, chairman of the trust said: “Things change and trustees recognise that in the current climate fundraising is increasingly difficult.
“It would be right to use our funds in a way that would be most effective, we looked very hard.
“I am very pleased we’re able to make the donation and we will be able to continue our work.”
And Stuart Marks, Sue Ryder’s hospice director, said he was delighted to work with the trust.
