North Wales charity St David’s Hospice has announced it will face a total financial loss of over £1m this year, even with government help.
The charity says it will not recover these losses in 2020 having been forced to cancel all its summer events and close 26 charity shops and two cafes in Llandudno and Llangefni.
Trystan Pritchard, chief executive, said: “Our much-loved local hospice is in a fight for its survival.
"We have faced difficult financial challenges in the past, but nothing as extensive as the losses we face due to Covid-19.
"At the very start of the pandemic, we had no choice but to send our income generation and volunteer workforce home. This means that 90% of our income will be lost in the months of May, June and July and there is no telling how long it might take to get back to where need to be.
"I know now that we will be £1 million short of what we need to run the hospice this year, even after the government’s announcement of help.”
Last month, the Welsh Government announced a specific fund of £6.3m to help UK hospices to keep clinical services running throughout the pandemic.
Of this, £600,000 has been allocated to St David’s Hospice to support its clinical provision costs for the months of April, May and June.
Beyond that, the hospice says it must "rely on the communities it serves to keep its doors open in the future". ref BBC