St Giles Hospice has been delivering inpatient palliative care services at the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane, Walsall since 2010 following a successful bid via a tender process with NHS Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) who required an experienced charitable specialist palliative care provider to deliver the service.
The nine year contract with the CCG required the charitable provider to raise 50% from the local community and the NHS would provide the remainder of the funding.
It was the first such inpatient palliative care service in the Walsall area and the hospice felt privileged to be able to bring expertise and knowledge of specialist palliative care to the people of Walsall.
St Giles Hospice has delivered inpatient palliative care services at the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane successfully for nine years, and has recently been awarded an Outstanding rating from the CQC for its management and care delivery at the site.
2020 marks the completion of the nine year contract between St Giles Hospice and NHS Walsall CCG, and together it has been agreed that the future provision of inpatient palliative care is best delivered as an integrated service through Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust currently deliver other specialist palliative and end of life care services at the Palliative Care Centre, across the community and in hospital. Having also received an Outstanding CQC rating for its palliative care services, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will be able to deliver the high standard of care St Giles has introduced, ensuring its legacy is maintained.
As part of the change, inpatient palliative care services will continue to be delivered from the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
Together, St Giles Hospice, Walsall Healthcare Trust and NHS Walsall CCG believe that fully integrating all palliative care services under one provider, will offer a seamless experience for patients and their families in Walsall.
The historic contract that requires St Giles to raise 50% of the funding through charitable donations has become more and more difficult to maintain in recent years.
In order to sustain this valued service at the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane, both St Giles Hospice and NHS Walsall CCG believe that delivering it alongside other NHS palliative care services in Walsall will work in the best interests of patients and their families. It also ensures the most effective, fair and sustainable use of NHS finite resources.
Patients and families in Walsall are at the heart of these decisions and St Giles Hospice is committed to working alongside NHS Walsall CCG and Walsall Healthcare Trust, to ensure a smooth transition.
St Giles Hospice is incredibly proud of the palliative care service it has delivered in Walsall and is grateful to the Walsall community for its charitable support. We know that the NHS sees inpatient palliative care services as a valuable and necessary part of its palliative care offering and that this is down to the hard work and commitment of St Giles Hospice staff.
We understand that you may have questions about this change, so please see below for our FAQs.
You can also read our full press release here.
2020 marks the completion of the nine year contract between St Giles Hospice and NHS Walsall CCG, and together it has been agreed that the future provision of inpatient palliative care is best delivered as an integrated service through Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust currently deliver other specialist palliative and end of life care services at the Palliative Care Centre, across the community and in hospital. Having also received an Outstanding CQC rating for its palliative care services, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will be able to deliver the high standard of care St Giles has introduced, ensuring its legacy is maintained.
As part of the change, inpatient palliative care services will continue to be delivered from the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
Together, St Giles Hospice, Walsall Healthcare Trust and NHS Walsall CCG believe that fully integrating all palliative care services under one provider, will offer a seamless experience for patients and their families in Walsall.
The historic contract that requires St Giles to raise 50% of the funding through charitable donations has become more and more difficult to maintain in recent years.
In order to sustain this valued service at the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane both St Giles Hospice and NHS Walsall CCG believe that delivering it alongside other NHS palliative care services in Walsall will work in the best interests of patients and their families. It also ensures the most effective, fair and sustainable use of NHS finite resources.
Patients and families in Walsall are at the heart of these decisions and St Giles Hospice is committed to working alongside NHS Walsall CCG and Walsall Healthcare Trust, to ensure a smooth transition.
St Giles Hospice is incredibly proud of the palliative care service it has delivered in Walsall and is grateful to the Walsall community for its charitable support. We know that the NHS sees inpatient palliative care services as a valuable and necessary part of its palliative care offering and that this is down to the hard work and commitment of St Giles Hospice staff.
It has been agreed that the future provision of inpatient palliative care is best delivered as an integrated service through Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust. As part of the change, inpatient palliative care services will continue to be delivered from the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust currently deliver other specialist palliative and end of life care services at the Palliative Care Centre, across the community and in hospital. The Trust has also received an Outstanding CQC rating for its palliative care services, and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will be able to deliver the high standard of care St Giles has introduced, ensuring its legacy is maintained.
No – As part of the changes, inpatient palliative care services will continue to be delivered from the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and the building in which the inpatient palliative care services is housed remains fully owned by the NHS.
St Giles Hospice is incredibly proud of the palliative care service it has delivered in Walsall and is grateful to the Walsall community for its charitable support. Knowing that the NHS sees inpatient palliative care services as such a valuable and necessary part of its palliative care offering is down to the hard work and commitment of St Giles Hospice staff.
The historic contract that requires St Giles to raise 50% of the funding through charitable donations has become more and more difficult to maintain in recent years. In order to sustain this valued service at the Palliative Care Centre in Goscote Lane, both St Giles Hospice, Walsall Healthcare Trust and NHS Walsall CCG believe that delivering it alongside other NHS palliative care services in Walsall will work in the best interests of patients and their families. It also ensures the most effective, fair and sustainable use of NHS finite resources.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust currently deliver other specialist palliative and end of life care services at the Palliative Care Centre, across the community and in hospital. The Trust has also received an Outstanding CQC rating for its palliative care services, and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust will be able to deliver the high standard of care St Giles has introduced, ensuring its legacy is maintained.
Together, St Giles Hospice, Walsall Healthcare Trust and NHS Walsall CCG believe that fully integrating all palliative care services under one provider, will offer a seamless experience for patients and their families in Walsall.
St Giles Hospice will continue to provide inpatient care to those Walsall based patients who live closer to our Whittington Hospice, as it has always done.
In addition St Giles has introduced many additional community based services in Walsall, including Bereavement Help Points, Dementia Support to Care Homes and patients and families in Walsall will continue to be able to access support services run in other parts of our catchment area. St Giles has a number of charity shops in the area that raise funds for those continuing services, and they would like to maintain these services in the future, but can only do so with the continued support from loyal fundraising supporters and shoppers in Walsall.
As the inpatient palliative care service in Walsall will remain open, there will be a limited need for any Walsall patients to access care through St Giles Hospice Whittington, however St Giles will continue to provide inpatient care to those Walsall based families who live closer to our Whittington Hospice as they have always done.
St Giles remains committed to delivering high quality palliative care across the region to ensure everyone has access to palliative care services when they need them. St Giles will therefore continue to work with NHS Walsall CCG and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust to ensure that specialist palliative care remains a priority and do all we can to support this.
This decision will affect both patients and families accessing St Giles Hospice Walsall as well as staff and volunteers providing inpatient palliative care services at Walsall.
For patients and families: We expect the change will have minimal impact on the care being received or their access to palliative care services. However, should you have any specific queries relating to you or a family member please email walsall@stgileshospice.com
For staff: We have released formal communications relating to the changes. Should you have specific questions, please speak to your direct line manager or to HR or email walsall@stgileshospice.com
As we have now reached the completion of the nine year contract between St Giles Hospice and NHS Walsall CCG, and together it has been agreed that the future provision of inpatient palliative care is best delivered as an integrated service through Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust – this change will take effect by the end of September.
St Giles Hospice have worked closely with the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust’s Palliative Care Team for the past nine years and will work together to ensure the transition is as smooth as possible for patients and their families as well as for staff.
As St Giles Hospice and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust go through this transition period, we aim to make it as smooth an experience for our patients and families as possible. There will be no change to the high quality of care delivered by staff at the inpatient palliative care centre and we endeavour to ensure that our patients are not affected by the change in any way.
We anticipate that the referral process for palliative care will remain the same. The only difference being that the provider will no longer be St Giles Hospice. Community palliative care will continue to be provided by the NHS as it currently is.
We do anticipate changes for staff and we have issued formal communications around this. Please speak to your direct line manager or HR for more information or email walsall@stgileshospice.com
Any donations that St Giles Hospice receives as a charity go to providing the best patient care possible and we remain committed to spending all donations to deliver the charitable aims and objectives of St Giles Hospice
If you have donated funds recently that are restricted to Walsall, it’s likely they’ve already been spent on palliative care service delivery.
Future unrestricted donations to St Giles Hospice will continue to be used to deliver palliative care services through both hospice and community services.
The service will be funded by the NHS. NHS Walsall has always invested more in end of life care than many areas and it makes sense for the inpatient palliative care services to be funded through statutory funding alongside other services.
2020 has always marked the completion of the nine year contract between St Giles Hospice and NHS Walsall CCG and we have been working hard for some time to reach a suitable way forward for inpatient services in Walsall.
St Giles Hospice and NHS Walsall CCG have been working hard for some time to reach a suitable way forward for inpatient services in Walsall.
Together it has been agreed that the future provision of inpatient palliative care is best delivered as an integrated service through Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and it is therefore the right time to inform families and the general public of the decision.
2020 has always marked the completion of the nine year contract between St Giles Hospice and NHS Walsall CCG and we have been working hard for some time to reach a suitable way forward for inpatient services in Walsall.
There have been many things to consider for both parties which take time to work through, and together we have remained committed to making the best decisions for patients and families in Walsall. St Giles Hospice, Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and NHS Walsall CCG believe that fully integrating all palliative care services under one provider, will offer a seamless experience for patients and their families in Walsall.
We do anticipate changes for staff and we have internally issued formal communications around this for any staff affected by this change. We remain committed to delivering the very best possible care for patients and families and will support all staff through any changes this may bring.
We appreciate the passion and dedication of all staff and thank them for their continued professionalism at this time
Funding for hospices recently announced by the UK Government is in response to the COIVD-19 pandemic and associated loss of charitable income that hospices across the country are experiencing.
As the Government has noted the funding package is considerably smaller than the amount charities are set to lose through soaring demand and a fall in donations and any funding received from the UK Government in response to COVID-19 is not related to the contract between NHS Walsall CCG and St Giles Hospice.