Nursing care charity issues warning over funding drop

  • Family Nursing and Home Care requires more public donations.
  • The charity has lost more than £100,000 in funding in two years after scrapping compulsory charge for members.
  • Read a history of the charity and find out more about their work below.
  • Should compulsory charge be re-introduced? Take part in our poll.

A CHARITY which provides vital frontline nursing and care services in Jersey says that without more public donations, it will not be able to offer the range of support the Island will need in the future.

Family Nursing and Home Care says that in the last two years the charity has lost more than £100,000 in funding –the equivalent of the annual salary of two community nurses.

The number of members who pay an annual membership fee has fallen by more than a third following the charity’s decision to scrap the compulsory charge in January 2013.

  • Family Nursing and Home Care is a Jersey charity that provides nursing and home care in the community from birth to end of life.
  • Its services touch the lives of more Islanders than any other charitable organisation, helping children, their families, the sick, the elderly and the dying.
  • The charity has teams of experienced and highly qualified nurses operating a range of services including, health visitors, school and children’s nursing, district and specialist nursing as well as home care.
  • In order to continue providing the breadth of services it needs to raise £2 million per year in voluntary donations.
  • Today the association employs more than 250 staff in order to provide the full range of community nursing and care services that Jersey’s residents need.

Previously, Islanders could only access the organisation’s services if they paid an annual £50 membership, but now the payment is on a voluntary basis.

The charity, which provides a range of support including health visitors, district nurses and home care assistants, says it has witnessed an increase in demand for its services and added that this would only continue to rise due to Jersey’s growing and ageing population.

It has now launched an online donation scheme which it hopes will increase the amount of funds it can raise.

Fundraising manager Ivo Le Maistre Smith said: ‘If we don’t get the support of people in Jersey, we will not be able to provide the range of services that Jersey needs.

‘At the moment any shortfall has to come from our reserves, but that can only last so long.

‘We are not looking to cut any services at the moment. We are determined that we will maintain the services that Jersey needs.’

The charity’s annual running cost is £9.5 million.

‘This year it has received £7.8 million in States funding – an extra £1 million compared to last year, as the States begin to implement their policy from the Health white paper which seeks to introduce more health services in the community.

However, the charity needs to raise £1.7 million more a year – and that will only pay for the services it currently offers.

Mr Le Maistre Smith said that the charity was lobbying hard to ensure that the funds it receives from the States were maintained, but added that he recognised that the States were ‘under enormous pressure’ to reduce costs.

He added that since the charity brought in the membership changes, the number of members has decreased by 33 per cent to about 3,500 while the number of new people becoming members was also decreasing year on year.

He added: ‘We are providing excellent services and have fantastic staff.

‘We are providing the care that Jersey needs, but we are looking to the future – and the future is not clear.

‘We are always aware that financial pressures are increasing.’

Mr Le Maistre Smith said that the charity hoped its new online donation scheme would increase funds.

Islanders can choose to pledge an annual or recurring donation as well as a one-off donation.

Under the new system, regular contributions of under £50 a year will make the donor a ‘friend’ of Family Nursing, while regular or one-off donations in excess of £50 will provide membership status and eligibility to vote at

the charity’s annual annual general meeting.

Find out more here.

In 1989 a competition was held to find a new Family Nursing and Home Care logo. The charity's then chairman, Leslie Crapp, is seen here congratulating the winners. Victoria College pupil Robert Gregory (17) took first prize, with College pupil Jeremy Le Rossignol (15) taking second prize and third prize went to 15 year old Le Rocquier pupil Brendon Lewis.

Before the 1900s there were virtually no professionally trained nurses in Jersey despite most health care being done at home.

At the beginning of the 20th century nurses came from what is now known as the Queen’s Nursing Institute and were employed by charitable local associations.

These nurses were funded by subscriptions collected door-to-door by ladies in the parishes, along with parochial funding and donations, but the poor were not charged.

Over the next few years a web of nursing associations was set up and spread through the Island.

By 1928 there were five associations affiliated to the Queen’s Nursing Institute and by 1939 there were 16 Queen’s Nurses working in the Channel Islands.

In 1948 all the affiliated branches of the Queen’s Nursing Institute in the United Kingdom were dissolved and the employment of district nurses was taken over by the newly formed National Health Service (NHS).

Uniquely, in Jersey, the district nurses and health visitors continued to be employed by charitable organisations, which have continued to this day.

After the Second World War, the centre widened its scope and became known as the Jersey Family Welfare Association.

By 1958 two health visitors were employed to visit mothers after the midwife has completed her visits.

A geriatric liaison health visitor was appointed in 1970, which meant that specialist care could be given to patients, and school nurses also worked for the association.

In 1971 all the branches of the Jersey District Nursing Association were dissolved.

In 1986 the Jersey District Nursing Association and the Jersey Family Welfare Association amalgamated to become Family Nursing Services.

Six years later there was a further amalgamation with the Jersey Home Helps Society for the Sick and Aged.

By the early 1990s, the organisations for all Jersey’s nursing needs from birth to end of life were merged into one organisation, Family Nursing and Home Care.

This picture from 1979 shows Mrs Le Gros, who was pleased with the help she was getting from Family Nursing home help. Mrs Pirouet, who is bringing in the coal.Jersey's health visitors, who check on children during their early years, are overstretched.

Last month the JEP reported that Family Nursing and Home Care could not afford to employ additional health visitors – despite not currently meeting the level recommended by the UK.

The charity spoke out after it was revealed that Jersey’s health visitors, who check on children during their early years, are overstretched.

A report into early child development found that a health visitor in Jersey has an average case load of 330 pre-school children, compared with the UK recommended figure of 250.

The study commissioned by the UBS Optimus Foundation and carried out by a UK professor and doctor called for an increase in the number of health visitors in the Island.

Ivo Le Maistre Smith, fundraising manager for FNHC, said at the time that in an ideal world they would employ enough health visitors so that their workload met the UK-approved levels but that the charity was restricted by its resources.

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