Hospice Waikato awaits details of Government funding boost

Wednesday, 8 July 2026

Hospice Waikato Director of Communications and Engagement Cherie McCleery (left) and Director of Business Services Rosemary Poole say the charity relies on community support as well as Government funding

An ageing population and the need to raise almost a third of funding through community support are among the challenges facing Hospice Waikato as it provides end-of-life care to the region.

This gap shows the importance of donors, volunteers and especially thrift shoppers — the charity’s retail revenue is a key part of meeting demand.

Director of Business Services Rosemary Poole said the organisation had “a good collaborative model”, including nine charity shops, which all contributed to meeting the hospice’s annual running costs of $18 million.

Health care assistant Liz Milne is part of a team that provide end of life care at Hospice Waikato

This follows the Government’s recent announcement of a $12 million funding boost shared between hospices throughout the country.

In a statement announcing the increase, Health Minister Simeon Brown said Government funding covered about 64% of total hospice service costs throughout the country, although this varied.

“To help address these disparities, funding will be more closely aligned with need while ensuring every hospice receives a baseline increase,” he said.

A Hospice Waikato tree sculpture doubles as a way of recognising donors with names inscribed on leaves.

Pool said it was too soon to tell how impactful the boost would be, and they were waiting to learn more.

“The additional funding that we will receive will go to support delivering our services and ensuring that we are having an equitable delivery of service — so that's geographically and also supporting the Māori and Pacific communities.”

Government funding currently covered about 69% of Hospice Waikato's funding. Unlike some other locations, it had an inpatient unit that provided 11 beds, including a Rainbow Place facility especially for children.

Hospice Waikato has nine second-hand shops throughout the region

Asked what the hospice would like to see from Wellington in an election year, Poole said the ageing population was “a key factor”, and the hospice was always looking at the funding model and ensuring it didn’t fall behind.

The hospice started as an initiative by Margaret Broad, a nurse and Erebus disaster widow, more than 40 years ago. It started small but expanded over the years.

Spanning “right up the top of Coromandel down to the foot of National Park”, it had the second-largest geographical range of any hospice in the country, behind only Canterbury.

For Director of Business Services Rosemary Poole, a surprise bequest from Richard Bate was among the most memorable moments over 17 years with Hospice Waikato.

The hospice provided free end-of-life care to more than 2000 patients per year, and the money made from its charity shops was an important part of providing this.

Two years ago, it opened a store in Te Awamutu, and the success of this had been great to see, she said.

She urged people to make sure any donations were in good condition, as it was frustrating and cost money to get rid of things that were not saleable.

They had some innovative ways of moving stock — for example, fill-a-bag deals, which had “some amazing bargains”.

People seemed to be keen on thrift shopping, which she believed was due more to sustainability than to economic factors.

“Our retail arm has a real focus on sustainability, and we're finding that that is generally what people are doing. They're looking for that sustainable shopping, the recycling, reusing, giving things another lease of life.”

Hospice Waikato had about 135 general staff, including six full-time equivalent senior medical staff, and about 700 volunteers providing all kinds of valuable help.

“We have a big team of community nurses who are looking after our patients out in their homes. I think it's about 95% of our patients are cared for at home, which is their place of choice.”

Thinking about how to meet the hospice’s future financial needs was the biggest challenge of her role, Poole said. However, it was an environment where she was able to work with an amazing bunch of people who were there for all the right reasons.

After 17 years with the hospice, she said she had learned to be resilient, and to “celebrate the good moments” as well.

Among the highlights, she recalled the unexpected bequest of a property portfolio left to the hospice by a man they had touched “many years ago” named Richard Bate.

The hospice was able to sell this and put the funds towards a building extension that opened in 2015.

“I didn’t know why I had been called in to meet these solicitors, but it was such an amazing piece of news when we were looking to see how we were going to fund this building extension — it really helped deliver that.”

Director of Communications and Engagement Cherie McCleery said the care the hospice provided was more than clinical, and included a “cloak of care” to wrap around patients. For example, volunteers had managed to come to a patient the day before she died, to help her write letters to her husband and children.