A hospice has said it is being impacted by the national "funding crisis" and is asking for public support.

St Catherine’s Hospice is located in Crawley and supplies care at home across West Sussex.

In a letter, chief executive Giles Tomsett has revealed that the hospice may be forced to make changes to the service.

Mr Tomsett said according to projections, fundraising and retail income will not be sufficient to facilitate rising costs and “tough decisions” have to be made.

He said: “I came to this role at St Catherine’s 10 years ago after my best friend had received our care – dying at just 44 and since then, several of my other friends have received care and support from hospices , each dying before they were 55.

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“Like many of you, I know up close and personal the value of the quality care our wonderful teams provide. I see our team’s effort and drive every day and I know of it from feedback I receive from dying people and their families.

“Currently, around 28 per cent of our funding comes from the NHS. Over the 10 years I’ve been in post, this funding has remained static despite rising costs.

“This means our statutory funding covers less of our costs than it did previously – whilst almost all of our costs are increasing.

“We are committed to running the same level of inpatient services on our wards and won’t be reducing this, continuing to operate the 12 beds currently open on our Meadow and Woodland wards, although sadly, we won’t be able to increase the number of beds available at the moment (our capacity is 24 beds).”

Mr Tomsett has called on the public to support the hospice through donations and by getting in touch with MPs to voice concerns.

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The hospice said that it is working with GP and district nursing services, as well as being in discussion with NHS leaders.

Mr Tomsett added: “We’ve already made significant changes to our telephone advice line service and our therapies support and more changes in our community services will be made in the Autumn.

“Our increasing costs are not a result of our new building, which was completed successfully thanks to the generosity of people like you, who collectively raised £19.5 million to pay for it all.

“While I’m saddened that inflationary pressure has and will hurt us, I’m enormously indebted and encouraged by the continuing loyalty of you and so many other supporters like you.”

National charity Hospice UK revealed in April that the hospice sector, which supports 300,000 people every year, is facing an estimated £77 million income shortfall for the financial year 2023-2024.

Earlier this year, a report by the All Party Parliamentary Group for hospice and end of life care found that the way hospice services are commissioned in England is not fit for purpose.

A survey conducted by Hospice UK last month found that a fifth of UK hospices have cut their services in the last year or are planning to do so.