St Joseph's Hospice’s Post

Yesterday a landmark decision was made by Parliament on #AssistedDying. It is the beginning of a long process of debate, review, and hopefully meaningful consultation with all parties including hospices. We have decades of experience to bring to the table! What stood out for me listening to MPs on both sides of the debate was a universal recognition of the inadequate funding for palliative and end of life care particularly hospices. The principle funding of the care for people who are dying should not come from “cake and secondhand clothes sales”! So as already highlighted by those far more eloquent than me, including Toby Porter, Saiyada Fazal and many others, is that we must make sure that what follows is a discussion on all aspects of those choices, including sustainably funded end of life care delivered by amongst others hospices like Dorothy House Hospice Care. The stark reality is that hospices across the country, adult and children, are not currently receiving adequate or sustainable funding! So as the discussions go forward it is an imperative and an opportunity for the voice of hospices, as championed by Hospice UK, to continue to be heard. We are vital, valued and respected partners in the care of our society and meaningful choice, whatever that looks like in the future, requires well funded, compassionate and equitable end of life care including from hospices!

Weston Hospicecare warmly welcomes yesterday's announcement of special funding support for hospices. We are hugely grateful to Hospice UK, to The Rt. Hon. Wes Streeting MP, to our local MPs especially Daniel Aldridge MP who supported us wonderfully, and to the DHSC and NHS England for making this happen. At a time when there simply isn't enough money to go around, and there are so many other highly deserving charities and organisations desperately in need, we understand we are truly fortunate to have been singled out in this way, thanks in no small part to the spotlight thrown by the assisted dying debate on the desperate need for better funding for end-of-life care. We will ensure that every pound is put to good use, and nothing is wasted. We must just sound a note of caution amidst the celebrations... The headline figure sounds large, but when divided amongst 200+ hospices nationally over 2 years, and intended as it is predominantly for capital investment, it doesn't address the longer-term underlying problem of income growth not being able to keep pace with ever spiralling costs - in our case we have grown our income by 40% over 7 years but total operating costs have increased by 50% during that same period (the National Living Wage alone has grown by 55% over 7 years). Ultimately, a different funding model is needed; one which is fair, equitable and properly reflects the core costs of specialist palliative care as being not a 'nice to have' but rather something that each and every one of us deserves, can depend upon when the time comes, and reflective of a modern, caring society.

One in five hospices are planning to reduce services due to financial constraints owing to: rising costs, reliance on voluntary income, and low government funding. At St Nic’s we’ve experienced a £80,000 funding cut, which has worsened an already difficult situation, demonstrating the difficult circumstances nationally. While these funding cuts might be viewed as a necessary short-term cost-saving measure, there are long-term consequences for our community. Every penny saved through funding cuts today could result in significantly higher costs in the future, both financially and in terms of patient wellbeing. When hospice services are underfunded, the burden shifts to hospitals and other healthcare providers, creating a more expensive and less efficient system overall. Cuts and unstable statutory funding threatens the quality of end-of-life care that so many depend on, and while there is at this moment no direct threat to our services we cannot let this continue. Write to your local MP and help us advocate for change: https://ow.ly/f8pY50THQN2

Birmingham Hospice welcomes the additional funding announced by the government to help with the immediate financial challenges facing hospices, and we look forward to hearing further details in the new year. While this is focused around capital investment, it will free up money to help cover short-term costs until a long-term, sustainable funding agreement is in place. We are pleased that the government has acknowledged the importance of hospice care and the vital role it plays in our communities. The current work on a 10-year plan for the NHS provides a great opportunity to ensure more people can access the care of their choice at the end of life. For investment in the hospice sector to be most effective, it will need to reflect how we deliver care, and allow us to maintain levels of specialist palliative care both in our hospices and out in the community, where the majority of our patients are. Support with day-to-day running costs such as staff pay is also needed if we are to restore services that have been lost and meet increasing future demand. Thank you to our colleagues at Hospice UK for their tireless work in making the case for additional investment in the sector.

Hospices are at a financial breaking point. Urgent and realistic Government support is needed to keep our services running. Protect Hospice care as you would the NHS. Last week St David's Hospice (North Wales) released this statement: WELSH HOSPICE AT TIPPING POINT is the message coming from St David’s Hospice in North West Wales after the Welsh Labour budget announcement this week. Richard Thomas, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the North Wales Hospice said: “Whilst we welcome the news of the £3 million reoccurring payment from Welsh Government, hospices need financial support right now, to be able to maintain our current level of clinical services. For the past ten years plus, statutory funding for hospices has not kept up with rising expenses, compounded by cost-of-living increases, salary adjustments required by Agenda for Change agreements, and recent hikes in both national insurance and the national minimum wage. “Due to all of this, St David’s Hospice is under extraordinary pressure and in 2025 we’ll be forecasting our third sizeable deficit, which is simply not sustainable. In order to maintain our current service delivery, we need decisive and urgent financial support from the Welsh Government today”. St David’s Hospice in North West Wales receives just 24% of its clinical costs through statutory funding and the remaining 76% must be raised through second hand shops, events, lottery subscriptions and donations. For the past five years, secondhand sales through the hospices network of charity shops have provided more income than statutory funding. Richard continued: “Every person in our community deserves the right to quality end-of-life care and we already know that one in four people are not receiving the care they need. The quality of respite and end of life services we offer in the rural communities of North West Wales are second to none and the multidisciplinary expertise we can offer as a third sector organisation is simply not replicated anywhere else”. The hospice fears that if the hospice deficit position is not addressed now, there will be no choice but to cut services which will mean even more pressure felt by the NHS. The greater impact is that service reduction will also severely limit the health boards capability to meet the palliative and end-of-life care needs of our aging communities, and to achieve the goals set out in the Quality Statement for Wales. The hospice sector is also pleading for a suitable commissioning framework before it is too late. The budget announcement is a step in the right direction, but we need a fair, ongoing commitment to meet our staffing costs, and a commissioning framework which pays for the services which are commissioned. We can then use our charitable donations to fund community-based services to patients and their families who need us now and in the future”.

The conclusion of the parliamentary debate on Hospice funding was offered by Sally Ann Hart MP (Hastings and Rye). She offered the following messages.   Funding for Hospices and PEOLC is not a political issue. The government does support Hospices via ICB’s but funding models require closer consideration to ensure parity with NHS whilst ensuring Hospice independence.  We recognise need for better collaboration between ICB’s, wider NHS and Hospices. Extra funding via ICBs will improve localised approach and do call for more funding in spending review.    #hospicekeymessages #hospicefunding #hospiceparliamentarydebate

On route to the Houses of Parliament for the APPG for Children Who Need Palliative Care reception... Having been in this sector for nearly 20 years, with over 10 of them working across adult and children's hospices, I continue to be amazed at the precarious position such crucial services are left in, with many never knowing if they will have enough funding to deliver their services in the years ahead. It is entirely obvious that it is the generosity of the public that enables incredible organisations like East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) to provide outstanding services (as rated by the CQC), and also prevent further stress and chaos within the wider health / NHS system. To make this a sustainable model for the future (nationally), we need the following actions to be taken seriously by the UK Government / NHSE, as a minimum starting point: 1. Develop a national plan to ensure the right funding flows to hospices. 2. Ensure that hospices are on multi-year contracts, and ensure contracts are in line with uplifts received by the wider healthcare system. 3. Understand the costs of providing different models of palliative care, with the aim of developing reference costs that can be used by commissioners. #hospice #care #funding

As the new government gets to work, hospices are in crisis. Costs are rising, funding has stalled, demand for care is growing. Now some hospices are being forced to cut services. This can't continue. We’re supporting Hospice UK's campaign to make sure MPs understand the scale of the challenge facing UK hospices. Write to your MP now so they know what to do to support their local hospice: https://loom.ly/MkbMfhE #HospiceCare #NewGovernment #LabourGovernment

The current climate has resulted in many UK hospices being forced to cut services, leading to fewer inpatient beds and community services being reduced. We need help and support available from local MPs across Lincolnshire and the new UK government. With hundreds of new MPs and a new government in place, it’s critical for St Barnabas Hospice and other UK hospices that the challenge is understood and positive change is supported. Please write to your MP now, using this simple 1 minute form to support your local community and show them how much hospice care matters. At St Barnabas, we have launched our Organisational Strategy for 2024 to 2029. This determines the direction of travel for our Hospice over the next five years, with strategic priorities that will help us sustain the level of care, support, and services that we provide to over 12,000 patients and their families across Lincolnshire, every year. Write to your MP: https://lnkd.in/e7JPAKMk Read our Organisational Strategy 2024 - 2029: https://lnkd.in/ekhNbtg6

With the General Election just weeks away, the Chief Executives of the independent hospices across the North East and North Cumbria area are calling for the next Government to recognise the impact of hospice services for our communities. ✅ Review funding arrangements for hospice care to ensure we are sustainable to support patients and the wider health and care system. ✅ Meaningful support for NHS Integrated Care Boards to better work with inpatient hospices and hospice at home to ensure delivery of high-quality palliative care as outlined in the 2022 in Health and Social Care Act, recognising demand is increasing. ✅ Commit to maintain ring-fenced, centrally distributed NHS England funding for children’s hospices beyond this financial year increasing in line with inflation. #HospiceCare #HospiceFunding #EndofLifeCare #HNENC