Things look bad. Just not as bad.

Shortly before Christmas, Hospice UK shared the results of the analysis of the six month aggregated management accounts of 82 hospices. This exercise is an extension of one I have been doing with the members of my Virtual Hospice Finance Director's Group for the last couple of years.

In absolute terms, the report does not make good reading. However, the figures do show an improvement on those for the 1st quarter. Combined, the participating hospices;

• Collectively recorded an actual deficit of £20.5m, though this was well below the aggregate budgeted deficit of £51m. More positively, the sector had a better 2nd quarter than 1st, as the respective figures were £15.6m and £23.6m to the end of June. However, the six month figures were £19m worse than for the same period last year.   
• 55 (50) of the 82 (66) hospices who participated recorded a deficit after six months. The figures in brackets are those for the first quarter. In percentage terms, the number has fallen from 75% of participants in the 1st quarter, to 67% by the end of the 2nd.  
• Extrapolated across all independent hospices, this would result in a sector wide end of year deficit of £81m. That is a lot better than the estimate based on the 1st quarter, which was c£150 million. However, it would still easily be the worst figure since Hospice UK started analysing aggregated hospice accounts in the early 2000’s. 

To download a full copy of the report, please go here.