The Island’s Catholic Church has donated £3,000 to the Mountbatten Hospice in Newport following a second collection at all Masses shortly before Christmas.
Fr Steven Restori, the Island’s Parish Priest presented the cheque to Nigel Hartley, Mountbatten CEO, with Ian Loosley of the churches’ Pastoral Council in attendance.
Nigel explained the financial plight of the hospice, saying:
“The annual cost of running the hospice is between £10.5m-£11million a year. The sheer number of people who needs us is climbing for all hospices, but particularly on the Island, with our elderly population.
“There is a lack of support from the local Integrated Care Board, which has not given us an uplift for many years as our costs have continued to rise.
“The National Insurance rise in the recent budget has also added £200,000 to our wage bill and we have to cover that by ourselves.
“While the Government has announced £100m for hospices, this is for a capital spend on buildings and not our running costs, so we are struggling with our 240 staff.”
Turning to the Islanders and their support for the hospice, Nigel added:
“The Island is unique in terms with Mountbatten and our relationship with the community.
“Last year’s Walk the Wight raised £560,000 which is phenomenal, but we realise we can’t keep asking the community to keep paying in as they have done.”
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