Charity launches appeal as NHS grant cut

Bosses at a charity at risk of closing say the vulnerable older people it supports will lose a vital lifeline if it cannot be saved.

Moorlands Home Link (MHL) - which has been running since 1986 - has launched a fundraising appeal after losing its NHS grant of £70,000 per year.

The charity provides day care, meals on wheels and other services for more than 130 clients across the Staffordshire Moorlands.

A local NHS spokesperson said it had offered to support the charity's clients, and had funded a six-month transition period to help bosses find other sources of income.

Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB) said it had reviewed its funding for 21 voluntary sector organisations, with Moorlands Home Link being one of three to lose their grant.

The ICB provided the charity with a £35,000 transitional grant to support it until the end of September.

MHL, which has 14 staff and more than 90 volunteers, is now trying to raise £50,000 to keep it running until next March, to provide time for it try to secure a more sustainable source of funding.

Executive manager Sharon Ball said the ICB's decision came at a time when the charity was already facing increased costs due to factors such as the rise in National Insurance contributions.

"We're the only day care in Cheadle and within a 10 miles radius," she said.

"We wouldn't even be able to signpost people to alternative services because there aren't any on the patch."

She said they were currently appealing against the ICB's decision and hoped they would change their mind.

The charity has had funding from the NHS for more than 20 years.

It provides a cost-effective way of supporting older people, Ms Ball said, at a time when social care funding is a major problem for many local authorities.

"We've probably lasted longer than anyone would have thought," she said.

"At the moment, we're just hoping against hope that something will come up and we will be able to continue."

The ICB said it would continue to invest more than £2m in voluntary sector organisations, despite financial challenges facing the NHS.

"The ICB has offered support to services users of Moorlands Home Link and that offer remains open during the transition," a spokesperson said.

"It should be noted that if a person is assessed and eligible for social care from the local council, they can use their personal budget should they wish to use their funding for day care services from Moorlands Home Link."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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