The Marie Curie charity has been told it will no longer be contracted to provide specialist overnight end of life home care in the county.
The NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) says it’s working with other health and care agencies while Marie Curie claim the decision is financial.
“It is devastating that such an important and long-standing overnight specialist end of life service will no longer be available to the people of Lincolnshire,” said Sue Morgan, associate director of strategic partnerships and services for Marie Curie for Lincolnshire.
“Marie Curie’s expert care is crucial for patients, providing immense comfort to them and their families.
“Our healthcare assistants give people calm and dignity at the end – with one chance to get right.
“We are concerned that quality of care will be compromised by the ICB’s decision to change how overnight care is provided in the county.
“The ICB has designed its delivery model to one of domiciliary care, therefore specialist end of life care is no longer provided.
“Over the last couple of years, the cost of delivering our specialist care has risen and NHS funding has not kept pace. This cannot continue.
“We understand the NHS’s financial pressures, but ICBs are responsible for commissioning local end of life care that meet the needs of the community; we do not know if the ICB has consulted with patients and families prior to making this change.”
Marie Curie initially said the contract ended on March 31, but an ICB spokesman said the service would continue ‘until an end date is agreed’.
“We have heard from patients and their families that their experiences of support has been variable,” the spokesman continued. “As part of our strategy the ICB has committed to ensuring that individuals, families and carers are able to receive the care they require irrespective of where they live in the county.
“We have been discussing over the last two years with Marie Curie how they could work alongside other providers to achieve this objective.
“We are disappointed that, despite ongoing dialogue, we have been unable to agree a delivery model and arrangement that includes the Marie Curie night service being part of the integrated whole system service for our patients.
“We are grateful to the staff who have worked as part of the Marie Curie team delivering compassionate care to individuals in parts of Lincolnshire.”
The Marie Curie Rapid Response Service, which operates between 8am-8pm, is unaffected by the changes to the Marie Curie night service.
