Recently, Tōtara hospice in South Auckland announced they would be reducing their patient intake and services by almost a third due to funding gaps.

This announcement follows a hiring freeze the hospice had to put in place last month.

The Hospice helps provide end-of-life care at no direct cost to patients, and is the subject of an upcoming documentary series called ‘Hospice Heroes’.

While Minister of Health, Simeon Brown, has said that funding to the sector increased by 3% this year, representatives of the hospice have said that those figures weren’t nearly enough to cover the costs of their services and that other palliative care centres across the motu were experiencing similar pressures.

News and Editorial Director Joel spoke with Ed Boswell-Correa from the New Zealand Nurses Organisation about the service cuts at Tōtara hospice and how the sector at large is being affected.