Irwin Mitchell, a full service law firm based in the United Kingdom, provides hospices with vital funding in order to ensure that they can keep up their work during the coronavirus crisis. The firm´s lawyers recovered more than £220,000 with the aim of supporting hospices in the UK. The funding is needed to maintain their essential function for hundreds of thousands of people at the end of their life each year, as Britain´s hospices are facing their own battle for survival during the current Covid-19 pandemic. 

Due to the coronavirus lockdown, charity shops have been closed and major fundraising events have been cancelled, causing enormous financial problems for the UK´s charity sector. According to estimations of UK charities, they face a £4 billion shortfall. The extent of the income reduction as a result of the Covid-19 crisis has been that severe, that some hospices were forced to close in order to make financial savings. To avoid this from happening and to support hospices in maintaining their services, relatives of persons cared for in hospices before their death are contributing to provide a much-needed funding boost. 

Irwin Mitchell helps with recouping money on behalf of families whose loved ones received end of life care. They have broad expertise in supporting people diagnosed with industrial illness. In 2010, the law firm began to recover funds for hospices following a landmark judgement they secured which ruled that the insurers of a company responsible for the death of a worker from an asbestos-related disease should contribute to the cost of care provided to the victim by the hospice. Since the beginning of 2020 alone, Irwin Mitchell´s lawyers have recovered a sum of more than £220,000 for the support of the work in hospices, following legal cases where patients have died from mesothelioma (a form of terminal cancer linked to asbestos).

Ian Bailey, a partner and specialist asbestos-related disease lawyer at the London office of Irwin Mitchell, states that “hospices are vital in providing frontline care to almost 250,000 vulnerable people and their relatives each year at a very sensitive and emotional time for families.” He comments that “many hospices are now facing their own challenges to survive and keep on providing quality end-of-life care” and adds that he hopes that the recovered funding for hospices from Irwin Mitchell´s clients´ claims will help to ensure that hospices can keep providing specialist care during these unprecedented times. 

You can view the full press release at Irwin Mitchell´s website: https://www.irwinmitchell.com/news-and-insights/newsandmedia/2020/may/hospices-receive-vital-funding-to-support-work-during-covid-19-pandemic