Devonshire Freemasons donate £1065 to St Lukes Hospice, Plymouth to help with their important work…
Every year Devonshire’s Freemasons visit the Hospices around the region to give a donation to what we regard as such an important service to the community. This year Deputy Provincial Grand Master V.W. Bro Nick Ball and his Wife Gill visited St Lukes in Plymouth.
Sarah Wallis and Peter Ward are the Partnership Leads at St Lukes, they briefed Nick and Gill on the key points from the COVID period, costs of running the Charity, and expectations for the future:-
- Due to the Pandemic St Lukes is expecting to see a 25% rise in demand , due to lack of access to NHS services for so many in the region.
- St Lukes catchment is huge ! going from East Cornwall to the South Hams and up to Tavistock. They have around 2000 patients a year.
- It costs £10M a year to run, with only 33% from Government, the rest is fundraising, although the big fundraising events are only now starting to happen again, the community hasn’t stopped in it’s ‘At home’ events.
- Hospice shops are being streamlined, and their lottery brings in around £1M a year.
- It costs around £1000 for ‘At Home’ care, and £11K for a ‘Hospice bed’.
- More than 50% of care is now given in Patients homes, with around 25% being in main Hospitals.
V.W. Bro Nick Ball (Deputy PGM) said:
“Every year we come here and are always impressed by their drive to get the fundraising to get the services for those that need it, here in the SW. We hope our donation of £1065 helps in some small way”.
Bro Alec Collyer MBE
Provincial Press Officer