THE chief executive of Ardgowan Hospice has issued a rallying cry to the charity’s supporters in a bid to end the 'postcode lottery' of funding for Scotland's hospices.

Graham Gardiner has highlighted a lack of consistency in the distribution of government funding to hospices across the country, which sees some receive a greater proportion of their overall expenses than others.

Around 32 per cent of Ardgowan Hospice’s running costs – which sit at around £11,000 per day – are currently covered by money which is ‘passed down the chain’ from NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to local health and social care partnerships.

The remaining 68 per cent of is made up of community giving, charity shop sales, a lottery scheme and grants from other sources of funding.

Mr Gardiner told the Telegraph: “In Scotland, there is currently no funding formula, so there is no parity between hospices.

“Some are getting 50 or 60 per cent of their expenses covered by the Scottish Government, others get 20 per cent.

“My view is that something around 60 per cent would be realistic.

“If we got 60 per cent, that would mean we could really crack on and serve the people of Inverclyde the way we want to.

“What we want is parity across the whole of Scotland, so that hospices have a fair funding framework.”

Graham Gardiner (Image: George Munro) Mr Gardiner also raised concerns around the 'unintended consequences' of pay awards to NHS staff which leave hospices ‘behind the curve’.

An award to nurses in Scotland last year saw the charity forced to find an additional £180,000 annually to continue paying its staff competitive salaries, despite receiving no additional government backing.

Mr Gardiner said: “Nurses and doctors should be paid properly.

“I don’t have a problem with making the awards. My problem is that they don’t give us any extra money for those.

“We are doing a lot of work supporting our local community, and our community are amazing in supporting us.

“If we weren’t around, more people would need hospital beds, more people would need nurses out in the community, and there wouldn’t be this specialist palliative end of life care.”

Mr Gardiner met Inverclyde MSP Stuart McMillan last week to discuss the need for a fairer framework, as well as recently speaking with MP Martin McCluskey.

He is calling on supporters of Ardgowan Hospice to consider writing to their elected representatives to help ’push the issue up the agenda’.

Mr Gardiner added: “We understand that, at the minute, there are lots of things happening in terms of government.

(Image: Newsquest) “There are phenomenal areas of risk and of challenge, but we don’t want to get lost in that.

“I think if elected officials know that people in an area feel so strongly that they’re willing to write a letter or make a phone call, then that shows just how important Ardgowan Hospice is to their community.”

Following his meeting with Mr Gardiner, Mr McMillan said: “Currently, Ardgowan Hospice receives around a third of its income from the HSCP, but the amount that hospices receive from HSCPs varies across Scotland.

“This has created a postcode lottery and fails to reflect the invaluable role that hospices play in delivering palliative care in our communities.

“I therefore support calls for a Fair Funding Framework to be designed to ensure that hospices receive a funding allocation that is more indicative of the work they do, and the growing demand on their service.

"This would also remove the postcode lottery that currently exists.

“I will continue to advocate for fair funding to come to our local hospice so they can remain at the heart of our community.”

Ardgowan Hospice has created a draft letter which supporters can send to parliamentary representatives. This can be found at ardgowanhospice.org.uk.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We highly value the vital support independent hospices provide to people and their families, as well as supporting other health and social care services and teams delivering palliative care and care around dying.

"We fully understand the pressures facing Scottish hospices and are actively engaging with the sector to discuss and begin to work through these issues.

"This includes meeting with the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group and Hospice UK to discuss funding and the development of a national framework.”