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Hibiscus Hospice has joined its counterparts on the North Shore and Warkworth/ Wellsford in an alliance designed to help all three make best use of limited resources.
Under the Northern Hospice Alliance, the three hospices will share resources and services, but goods and funds donated in each local area will remain within that community.
It is hoped that the formation of the new alliance, announced on July 31, will increase access to expert palliative care and address the growing needs of three of the fastest-growing communities in the country.
Chief executive across all three hospices is Jan Nichols. She says that Hibiscus Hospice remains an independent trust, but a key change is that management roles, including human resources and clinical and volunteer management, are now shared.
Ms Nichols says the alliance also has a retail review underway, which is focused on the overall management and systems at its various charity shops.
This will include moving its garage sales into the new Warkworth Wellsford hospice building as soon as possible after it opens.
She says the alliance is all about working smarter to make limited resources go further.
“Hospices across New Zealand are facing increased costs and a shortage of skilled palliative care nurses, family support professionals and doctors,” she says. “The hospices have taken a long term view and because the population is growing so rapidly, and ageing, we have looked at the projections around need and it’s daunting,” she says. “We also acknowledge that it’s difficult for health spending to keep pace with demand, so we need to use every single dollar we get from the community and Government wisely. Doing this may allow us to increase services but apart from that, the local community shouldn’t notice many differences in their hospice.”
“With new management there can be changes but if so we will keep our volunteers involved because they are a very valued part of hospice.”
