Media Release: Children’s Hospice Outrage At MPs’ Expenses

Thursday 14 May 2009; A children’s hospice in Dorset struggling for government funding to care for children with life-threatening illnesses has joined the public outcry surrounding MPs’ secondary homes expenses.

Regardless of the gestures made by some MPs to repay claims filed within the rules of the Parliamentary system, the Julia’s House Chief Executive has highlighted that the equivalent amount of some claims would allow the charity to pay for nurses to care for more children in desperate need of their support.

The charity, which was ranked 14th in the Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work For 2009, receives just three per cent of its total annual funding from the government, around £60,000.

While the hospice battles to secure increased government funding to meet the £2.4 million it costs to run Julia’s House, the only children’s hospice located in the county, some MPs are filing expenses to install chandeliers and clean their moats.

The Times reported that Foreign Secretary David Miliband ‘claimed almost £30,000 for doing up his £120,000 constituency home over five years’ in South Shields, including £180 expenditure every three months on the property’s garden.

The full list of MPs’ expenses included Francis Maude, the Shadow Cabinet Minister, who ‘claimed almost £35,000 over two years for a mortgage on a London flat a few minutes walk from a house he already owned and then rented out’, the Times reported.

Martin Edwards, Julia’s House Chief Executive, points out that £30,000 would fund a hospice nurse for an entire year. “Some of these expense claims could have funded another specialist Julia’s House nurse, or several nurses, to help look after these children,” said Mr Edwards.

“This is all about priorities. Taxpayers will be understandably angry that really good causes such as ours are being denied fairer funding when there seems to have been an open chequebook for politicians’ allowances. And given that we receive so little government funding, it would be fitting if some of the MPs who are having to repay expenses would make a donation to their local children’s hospice as well, to say sorry.”

Julia’s House nurse Sarah Newton, 27, typically looks after 10 seriously or terminally ill children each week, visiting some children at home all over Dorset and caring for others at the hospice itself in Poole. Sarah also supports the children’s parents, either through giving expert advice, or just as a shoulder to cry on, in unimaginably stressful circumstances. Mr Edwards, who was awarded Chief Executive of the Year by the Wessex Charity Awards, continued: “Some of our nurses are called ‘angels’ by the families they help, which shows just how special they are. I only wish we had more of them.”

The hospice replies on support from the Dorset community and businesses to currently care for 90 life-limited children across the county. It is estimated that up to 200 seriously ill children and their families are eligible for the unique service it provides.

The charity offers a free lifeline to Dorset life-limited and life-threatened children and their families. Conditions include muscular dystrophy, severe cerebral palsy, spinal muscular atrophy, and brain tumours.

Julia’s House has over 100 staff including 65 nurses and carers who visit children in their home on a regular basis, looking after the child’s every need. This takes pressure off parents and enables them to take part in other activities, providing life-changing support in the family home and at the hospice located in Corfe Mullen.

To find out more about Julia’s House visit www.julias-house.org or call 01202 607 400.

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Notes to Editors

Julia’s House is Dorset’s hospice dedicated to children with life-limiting conditions. The majority of the children that it cares for are unlikely to live into adulthood (defined as beyond the age of 18). The children’s hospice complements the work of the Julia’s House Community Team, which consists of 65 nurses and carers who travel the county, providing life-changing support for families in their own homes.

In 2008 the charity provided 7,318 hours of care in the community and 5,170 hours of care at the hospice in Corfe Mullen, equating to an overall 65% increase in the care hours compared with the previous year.

Julia’s House Media Contact:
Emma Spearing, Hazel PR
Tel: 01202 862410 Fax: 01202 862301 Mobile: 07736 341828
E-mail: emma.spearing@hazelpr.com

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