Charity fears 'unfair' charges (From Milford Mercury)

Charity fears 'unfair' charges

8:30am Friday 5th February 2010

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A local charity that provides vital treatment to patients across Pembrokeshire fears it will have to pay an annual inspection fee of up to £1,500.

The Hyperbaric Oxygen Pembrokeshire Endeavour (HOPE) centre in Neyland, provides physio and oxygen therapy for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), motor neurones disease (MND) and Parkinson’s disease, in south west Wales.

The centre could now face charges of up to £1,500 for its annual independent inspections, despite spending £100,000 a year treating patients and receiving just £30,000 worth of funding from the health service.

The rest of the funding is raised entirely by the charity.

Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies was informed of the proposed regulatory fees and raised the issue with Welsh Health Minister Edwina Hart at the Senedd.

A consultation into charging for the inspections was completed last November and Mr Davies is now pressing Mrs Hart to reveal its findings.

“It is unfair to charge them for inspections when they are taking a huge financial burden away from the NHS by providing this service,” said Mr Davies.

HOPE manager Rick Stanton said that they are not unhappy about the inspections, just having to pay for them.

Mr Stanton said: “We are doing work that should be done by the statutory sector which they can’t afford to do and we are saving them quite a lot of money.”

HOPE patient and chairman of fundraising, Pat Price, from Manorbier, who has had relapsing MS for 20 years and has been attending the centre for the past six years, says it has kept her MS at bay.

“I find it very hard to understand why they should charge for inspection.

“We work hard to raise every penny we need to keep the centre going,” she said.

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