THE Donna Louise Children's Hospice Trust has hit an annual income of more than £2 million for the first time in its history.

The trust's level of financial security means staff can now spend the rest of year examining how best to improve services for poorly children from around the region – and that could open the way for a return to opening 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

But chief executive Nuala O'Kane has warned – despite the charity's successful year and with reserves standing at almost £800,000 – that complacency cannot be allowed to set in, as the hospice has outgoings of about £160,000 a month.

Ms O'Kane said: "It is like running a home – if you are dipping into your savings to pay your bills, it is not sustainable in the long term."

The trust is well on its way to reaching a long-term target of permanently having £1 million kept aside for a rainy day after reserves shot up from £208,000 over the course of 2009-10.

It was made possible for a number of reasons – notably that generous residents helped the fund-raising team surpass its £1.3 million annual target by £475,000. Ms O'Kane said: "We have had a better-than-expected year and were helped by a large legacy.

"Knowing that we have a little pot in reserve means we can afford to go for growth in the knowledge that, if things do dip for a few weeks, we can ride it out."

The one-off legacy payment of £239,000 came from a donor who has not been named.

And the trust was also bolstered by the £25,000 generated by July's African Dream ball – a figure which was promptly matched by trust patron and Potteries pop superstar Robbie Williams.

The charity also received £416,000, 18 per cent of its income, from grants from the Government and local health trusts, as well as other public sources.

Ms O'Kane said the new-found financial strength meant the hospice – currently limited to opening for overnight respite care to four nights a week – could now re-examine the way it operates to see if it could improve the way it provides its services.

Over the course of the year, in-house care was provided 1,182 times, while hospice staff made a further 733 community visits.

Ms O'Kane said: "Because we could see the financial forecast wasn't good, we had already condensed the service into four days to work towards cutting overheads.

"We were doing six nights a week with an average of four children, so we went to four nights a week with an average of six, which reduced staff and saved running costs."

That is now being reviewed as the hospice consults with families and staff about how best to meet patients' needs.

It could mean an increased number of community visits, a return to 24/7 care at the hospice, or more flexible day care.

Ms O'Kane said: "We reckon £2 million a year will run the service 24/7 and this year we have brought that amount in."

It was not just in terms of donations and grants that the hospice benefited.

Its annual report shows volunteers gave up a total of 6,575 hours of their time to the hospice over 2009-10.