Harrogate Town Players Back Hospice Appeal

Football club Harrogate Town are this week showing their support to Saint Michael’s Hospice amidst our ongoing funding shortfall due to inflation.

Last month we launched a fundraising appeal in a bid to plug a £500,000 gap in our finances due to our government funding rising by just 1.2% despite rising costs including inflation hitting over 8%.

Players Jack Muldoon and Mathew Foulds took time out of their training schedule on Monday 15 April to visit staff and patients at the hospice and to show their support. Talking about the visit, Matthew Foulds said;

Here at Saint Michael’s we offer vital hospice care, emotional wellbeing, and bereavement support to local communities across the Harrogate district both from our Hornbeam Park based hospice and in people’s own homes. We receive just 17% funding from government income streams and with government funding simply not keeping up, this year we rely on the generosity of our community to raise over £5.5million.

Since the launch of our Inflation Appeal, hospice’s up and down the country have echoed the funding inequalities across the sector with Hospice UK, the national charity for hospice and end of life care, having also revealed alarming findings in their recent survey of hospice finances.

According to Hospice UK’s quarterly financial benchmarking survey, the UK hospice sector, which supports 300,000 people annually, is facing a collective estimated deficit of £77 million in the financial year 2023-24, primarily fuelled by rapidly rising costs. The issue reached Parliamentary debate this week, with lobbying expected to be ongoing until fairer funding support is offered.

The Saint Michael’s Inflation Appeal has already raised over £95,000 with a further boost expected this weekend at Harrogate Town’s game against MK Dons on Saturday 20 September which is raising funds in aid of our charity

Michael White, Partnerships Manager at Saint Michael’s Hospice said;

Donate to our inflation appeal