Tyrone cancer charity facing financial crisis

A COOKSTOWN charity that has helped thousands of local people face up to cancer has said that the end of Department of Health (DoH) funding could force them into a ‘service shortfall’.

Charis Cancer Care, a holistic centre that offers a multitude of therapies and support services for families dealing with cancer, has just had around £250,000 of annual funding axed by the DoH.

The funding packages which have been discontinued were established during the pandemic and provided a sum of £31.5 million per year to organisations specialising in cancer, mental health and carer support.

Earlier this week, the Tyrone Herald spoke with Charis Cancer Care’s director of operations Fiona Brown to find out how the Tyrone-based charity are going to cope with the annual £250,000 deficit.

‘HUGE CHALLENGE’

“This is a huge challenge and it is not going to be easy for us to replace this huge sum we are now down.

“We have invested in fundraising staff, but recouping an annual loss of this magnitude is going to be a massive challenge.”

Fiona explained how the funding enabled staff to help families – many from the wider Omagh area – through their darkest days.

“When you receive a cancer diagnosis, often your world falls apart and you need all the help and support you can get.

“A lot of the cancer journey plays out in a very clinical, sterile, medicalised environment, which of course it has to, but that hospital setting can feel very impersonal.

“Doctors and consultants focus on healing your body, but they do not offer the emotional support many people need. That is where charities like Charis come in.”

Located on the shores of Lough Fea, just outside Cookstown, Charis Cancer Care offers a relaxing, personal and warm environment for cancer patients and their families to rest, recover, decompress and process.

“Before the pandemic, people who came to us had to choose between counselling and our other therapies.

“That was not ideal, but it was the best we could do with the resources we had.

“However, when we started receiving grants from both the DoH’s cancer and mental health funds, we were able to give people as many sessions as they needed, both counselling and therapies.

“This was perfect because often the counselling brings heavy and complicated concerns to the surface, like mortality and your family’s future after you are gone.

“That is a lot for a person to deal with, but we found that our other complementary therapies helped people work through those difficult worries.”

However, without alternative funding arrangements, Fiona fears that it is likely a reduction of services could be inevitable.

“This is a huge obstacle for us and the future is far from certain.

“For a lot of people, we are a lifeline, but we need money in order to support people.”

To illustrate just how deeply involved Charis Cancer Care becomes in the lives of their clients, Fiona made reference to a local man who lost his wife to breast cancer.

“After she was diagnosed, the two of them came here regularly in an effort to live as well as they could together while she was sick. When she ultimately died, that man kept coming and still engages with us to this day.

“That is just one example of the lasting relationships we form with the people we work with, but there are hundreds more. Ask anybody who has received support from us and they will tell you just how special we are.”

Two years ago, Health Minister Robin Swann launched a ten-year cancer strategy for the North, which included targets and aims for therapeutic and counselling provision.

Funding

However, Fiona said that ring-fenced funding has never been allocated to the non-statutory organisations that perform the ‘lion’s share’ of this work.

“I would say that charities like Charis provide about 90 per-cent of the emotional and mental health support that is such an important part of cancer care, but we have never been given guaranteed funding from the Executive. That has to change or else the services we provide will never be truly secure.”

Concluding, Fiona referenced the potential ripple effect that will be felt throughout the health service if charities like Charis start to fall.

“Our entire health system is under enough pressure as it is.

“If we, and organisations like us, start to disappear, imagine the amount of additional people that will somehow have to be absorbed by statutory services, or else be left without the support they need. Neither the health service nor our families can afford for that to happen.”