Jobs cut at cash-strapped hospice

The charity cares for 2,500 out-patients at two hospices

Jobs have been cut and non-clinical services reduced at a Cornish hospice to cover a funding shortfall of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Ten jobs have been lost at Mount Edgcumbe hospice in St Austell, including three compulsory redundancies.

Some social services provided by the hospice have also been scaled back.

The hospice provides care for cancer patients and is run by Cornwall Hospice Care.

In October, the charity revealed it was facing a £1m funding shortfall after a sharp drop in its income.

It costs £5m a year to run the Mount Edgcumbe hospice along with St Julia's Hospice in Hayle.

The charity relies on donations for 85% of its income and said that this year the money it received from legacies had dropped.

More than 2,500 outpatients a year are treated at the two hospices.