St Barnabas Hospice (based in Lincoln) and GIFTS Hospice (based in Grantham with day hospice services in Sleaford) announced today (Friday December 11) that it is their intention to join forces in a formal partnership from April 2010.

The new venture will build on a long-standing platform of joint working and strengthen the future of both hospices.

The planned amalgamation is fully supported by the trustees of both hospices as well as the local NHS, which commissions a range of specialist services from them.

Chairman of GIFTS, Noel Baumber said: "This is a natural - yet exciting - development for both hospices.

"We share the same aims - and the services we provide, in our different communities, complement one another very well.

"It will take patient care into a new era and enable us to marry our strengths in providing 'joined-up' services for the whole of
Lincolnshire for the first time.

"By making best use of all the available resources, we will be able to ensure every pound of fund-raisers' money goes as far as possible in supporting patients living with life-threatening illness. It will also open up other opportunities – from extending the use of latest technology to strengthening bids for extra funding."

Sarah-Jane Mills, chief executive of St Barnabas, said: "Our plans are designed to cement Lincolnshire's position at the forefront of end-of-life care nationally, helping us to keep pace with the latest clinical advances.

"They also ensure we are best placed to meet new NHS funding criteria, which is important for the future development and expansion of our services.

"Both hospices have come a long way since opening our doors, touching the lives of many thousands of local people. Our success is very much down to the support we have received from our communities.

"We wanted to share our plans with friends and supporters at the very earliest opportunity, so they can move forward with us as hospice care for the people of Lincolnshire enters an exciting new era."

Both hospices have been at the very heart of the Lincolnshire community since the 1980s.

St Barnabas has a newly-refurbished inpatient unit at Nettleham Road, Lincoln, and a growing network of day hospices in Boston, Gainsborough, Lincoln, Skegness, Spalding and Sutton-on-Sea. GIFTS provides its services to people living in south west Lincolnshire and has day hospices in both Grantham and Sleaford.

Both charities also provide support through their growing 'hospice at home' services.

The identity and independence of both hospices will continue, with each retaining its own name in the different parts of the county they serve.

They will continue to operate out of all existing premises in their catchment areas.

Any money raised which is earmarked for a particular local cause will be 'ringfenced' to ensure it is spent for the benefit of that community in exactly the way asked for.

The merger will see the creation of a new partnership - but it is one which has a track record of working together.

Patients from Grantham and other parts of south west Lincolnshire already receives inpatient care at the unit run by St Barnabas in Lincoln. And St Barnabas's Medical Director, Dr Andy Kutarski, an anaesthetist with a special interest in pain management, provides a specialist weekly clinic in Grantham.

The two hospices have also teamed up to provide a successful welfare advice service for patients and their carers, helping them gain access to around £300,000 worth of available benefits each month.

As plans are finalised in the months that follow, both hospices will be keeping their communities regularly updated on the progress being made.