York Central MP Rachael Maskell says government has "failed" to adequately fund hospices

Ms Maskell, who is a member of the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee in Parliament, also said that when the committee visited hospices in the course of its work that “people really don’t understand what happens in a hospice.

“We’ve got to be able to share with our communities the great work of the hospice movement,” she said. “It’s not just about those final moments. Hospices get involved at various times in the end of life process, and it’s important that all people from every community get access to that.

“We’re not going to be able to achieve that if the funding isn’t provided, and the government ultimately has that responsibility. The health minister needs to take this call for additional funding incredibly seriously, and to address that deficit, because these services are in an acute state at the moment.”

Research released last month by Hospice UK, a charity which works with hospices, says hospices in the UK collectively face an estimated deficit of £77m for the financial year 2023-24.

Hospices have to match NHS pay levels and work conditions in order to attract the best nurses and healthcare workers to the sector. However, according to Hospice UK, hospices on average only receive a third of their funding from the NHS, while children’s hospices receive only a fifth of their funding from public money, leaving charitable donations as the most important funding source for the sector.

Parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Hospice and End of Life Care found earlier this year that despite legislation passing in 2022 which intended to reform the healthcare system in England, the way hospice services are commissioned is “not fit for purpose.”

The report said failures by new Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) to commission palliative care from hospices meant “the services hospices provide for dying people and their families and the value they provide to the health system is at risk.”

Discussing the role of Government in funding ICBs adequately, Ms Maskell adds: “The fiscal environment is incredibly tight, but it doesn’t deter [government] from that responsibility, it has to find it from other budgets and it has clearly failed to do that, and has left hospices at risk of financial ruin.

“We already know there’s huge inequality when it comes to accessing palliative and end of life care, and this is likely to widen those inequalities.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We want everyone to have access to the high-quality, personalised palliative care that can make all the difference at such a difficult time. That’s why we require all local NHS integrated care boards to commission palliative and end of life care services to meet their patients’ needs.

“The majority of palliative care is provided via GPs, hospitals, and community health services – however we recognise the incredibly valuable role the charity sector plays in providing hospice care and supporting loved ones.”