Terminally ill patients may have to go to the mainland to die if a funding row over the Outer Hebrides’ only hospice is not quickly resolved.
The hospice is part of a building and charity that has been supported by Donald Trump’s sister.
Bethesda at Stornoway on Lewis has a 30-bed nursing and respite care unit and a four bed hospice.
It is the hospice that is at the centre of the row – and there are warnings it could close because of the cash shortfall.
It is claimed that NHS Western Isles should be funding half the annual costs – but since 2007 its contribution is said to have slipped to 32% in the current financial year and predicted to fall to 30%.
A spokeswoman for the facility has now said that as a result the charity had to fundraise £100,000-a-year more to £370,000.
“If it continues on the way its going we will have to close and the next nearest hospice is the Highland Hospice on the mainland and they are full,” she said.
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“We have been fighting this with the health board for a long time and we have managed to keep our costs down to just a 15 percent increase over the years, which is incredible.
“But it has got to the point we have now written to the Scottish Government about the problem with the health board. We can’t continue at this level of support.”
The Western Isles Council’s SNP Group today expressed its “frustration and disappointment” at the situation.
The Western Isles Integration Joint Board (IJB) – a partnership between the council and NHS Western Isles, along with third and independent sector providers of health and social care – decided on Thursday to continue discussions over financing the hospice.
SNP group leader Gordon Murray said: “This is not acceptable. To continue to avoid funding the Bethesda Hospice is putting the whole service at risk.
“The health board has underfunded this important facility in our community for eleven years and it looks like the IJB are minded to continue this injustice.
“The inability to plan for the long-term future, and rather look at the short-term economics, seems to be the culture in officialdom in the islands with the closure of schools etc. The decision, or lack of a decision, to continue discussions, is testament to that.
“What will happen when the Hospice closes? Will families have to fly off to hospices on the mainland? We cannot allow the uncertainty over our hospice to continue and I would urge the IJB to do the right thing and fund the £138,000 that is urgently needed to ensure the service is saved.”
The health board has been asked to comment.