A YORK hospice has cut the number of inpatients it cares for in the wake of staff shortages - while caring for more people in their own homes.

St Leonard’s Hospice said it was experiencing staff shortages due to a mix of sickness, maternity leave and ongoing vacancies linked to difficulties in recruitment.

A spokeswoman said such difficulties were consistent with other healthcare organisations, both locally and nationally.

She said the safety of patients at the hospice in Tadcaster Road, which cares for people with life-limiting illnesses, was its key priority and it had therefore taken the “difficult yet proactive” decision to reduce the number of admissions to its in-patient unit.

She said that before the pandemic, the hospice cared for a maximum of 20 inpatients at any one time, but the current maximum was five patients, although the intention was to return to a maximum of 20 again when the pandemic was over.

“We are continuing to maintain safe staffing levels in our in-patient unit to continue to provide our outstanding care to our patients,” she said.

“We have also built resilience in our community teams so that we can care for more people in their home. Thirty per cent more patients have been cared for through our Hospice@Home team than in previous years.

“Overall 85-90 per cent of our patients die in their preferred place of death, surrounded by their families.”

She said other teams in the hospice, including its family therapy, therapy and medical teams, had also adapted their ways of working to include community based care in people’s homes, so it was more responsive to changing patient needs.

The hospice’s staffing shortages, which includes nurses, are similar to the problems being experienced recently at York Hospital.

The Press recently reported claims that the hospital was so badly affected that nurses were being taxied over to York from Scarborough, where the shortages were slightly less severe, to help cover shifts.

The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that the last few weeks had been its most challenging period for staffing since the pandemic started.