MORE than 3,700,000 pounds.

That is the record amount the people of Basingstoke and north Hampshire have raised for St Michael's Hospice in 2017/18, the service announced this week.

While the service receives NHS funding for around 20 per cent of its budget, the rest of its roughly £4m annual running costs has to come from the community which has been thanked for its generosity and spirit by hospice bosses.

Iain Cameron, deputy chief executive of the hospice, said: "Without the support of the community of our services be it through donations, through activities, through retail, without the people of Basingstoke and north Hampshire, there would not be a St Michael's Hospice. They are the reason we are able to operate and touch people's lives.

"It is the best year ever, a record. It is more than double what we were gathering just 10 years ago."

Hospice bosses point to the fact that £1.6m came in from its retail operation and £1.1m from fundraising to show what a difference the community makes with comfortably more than 80p for every pound raised going to patient care.

The work of hospice volunteers was also praised.

In the last year, Basingstoke and north Hampshire residents have donated 77,000 hours of their time to the hospice.

Mr Cameron added: "If they were paid even minimum wage that would cost us £740,000 a year. That is a huge amount that is being used instead to fund services."

However, the fund has, in effect, been set to zero as of April 1 and so the cycle starts again.

Mr Cameron added: "We need it as this is not just a capital project - we need this money year in, year out, to provide our services.

"As we continue to invest in our services, we need more money to do more. We can care for more families, more patients and more people with life-limiting illnesses.

"We have fantastic support from the community and that is what keeps us going."

The hospice is already looking ahead however with plans to expand its retail operation and extend its community nursing hours by 50 per cent by 2020.

Mr Cameron added: "Currently we reach 30 per cent of the population that require our services. We need to look at the other 70 per cent and how we can reach them and get that figure to more 50 or 60 per cent on our side."