PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
Hospices - 11 February 2025 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

Hospices provide vital care and support for patients and their families at the most difficult time. I am very proud that this Government have provided a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices over this year and next. We are currently finalising the delivery mechanism for this funding, and we are pleased that Hospice UK is standing ready to distribute the money to local hospices across England. We are also providing £26 million of revenue funding for children’s hospices in England in 2025-26.

While I wholeheartedly welcome the £100 million capital funding boost for hospices announced before Christmas, 17 members of staff at Nottinghamshire hospice, which is a large community-based hospice serving my constituency that provides care for family members in their own homes, have recently been told they are at risk of redundancy. Can the Minister please expand on how the Government will support organisations such as this to continue to deliver excellent care in the community?

I thank my hon. Friend for this important question, and I commend the work of hospices such as Nottinghamshire hospice in his constituency, which I know does a wonderful job for people in his area. The investment I referred to in my earlier answer will help hospices such as Nottinghamshire hospice to provide quality end-of-life care to patients and their families this year and next. It can be used to improve IT systems, make it easier for GPs and hospitals to share vital data on patients, and help to develop and improve outreach services to support people in their own homes, when needed.

North London Hospice in my constituency has a site in Winchmore Hill that receives one third of its funding from the NHS, with the rest coming from the generosity of the public. Many of its services, such as out-patients and wellbeing, are funded entirely by donations. While it welcomes the announcement of the £100 million in funding, what assurances can the Government provide about long-term hospice funding, given the significant delays in accessing funding from integrated care boards this year? Hospices are anxious to seek clarity about the allocation and distribution of this funding.

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. On her point about long-term funding, last week I chaired a roundtable with key stakeholders from the sector, and we were absolutely focused on developing a plan to secure the long-term sustainability of the sector. We cannot go back to the cliff edge that we have had over the last few months, primarily due to the utterly chaotic and shambolic way in which the Conservative party managed our system in the past.

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. One of the three shifts that the 10-year plan will deliver is shifting more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community. In the context of the plan, we are having discussions about the long-term sustainability of the palliative and end-of-life care sector, including hospices. As we develop the plan, we will be carefully considering policies in this area, with input from the public, patients, health staff and our stakeholders. As I mentioned in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Edmonton and Winchmore Hill (Kate Osamor), last week I was pleased to chair a roundtable to discuss long-term strategies for hospices to get palliative and end-of-life care, including hospices, on to a more sustainable footing after 14 years of Tory neglect and incompetence.

Leicestershire is home to some superb hospices, such as Rainbows and LOROS, both of which are set to be massively impacted by the hike in national insurance contributions. Given the important work that these hospices do, particularly for people at the end of their lives, will the Minister urge the Chancellor to reverse this pernicious tax rise?

I am once again struck by the fact that Conservative Members seem to welcome the additional investment that the Chancellor has put into our health and care service, but do not seem to have any plan or proposals at all about how the revenue should be generated for that funding. Until we get an answer to that question, we will struggle to get much further in this House, although I note that Toby Porter, the chief executive of Hospice UK, has said that the

“funding will allow hospices to continue to reach hundreds of thousands of people every year with high-quality, compassionate care. We look forward to working with the government to make sure everyone approaching the end of life gets the care and support they need”.

First, may I pay tribute to those who work in hospices? I think we can all agree that they do an astonishing job. The Minister will agree that the national insurance hike has had an impact on those who work in hospices. Can he assure me that when it comes to the Scottish Government’s funding—I acknowledge the 14 years of Tory misrule and the funding settlements that were handed down—any Barnett consequentials will be passed on in full to the devolved Administrations?

We have seen the biggest settlement in many years for our health and care system across the country. It is now up to the SNP Government in Edinburgh to absorb and deliver that funding in a way that will actually improve services in Scotland—something that we have not seen for a very long time under the misrule of the Scottish National party.

The magnificent work done by those who work in hospices, including the four in Northern Ireland, needs to be reflected in the funding formula. Will the Minister undertake to discuss with ministerial colleagues the need for the Treasury to review that funding formula, particularly in relation to devolved settlements?

From the roundtable discussions, and from subsequent discussions we have been having with the sector, it is clear that we need to look at the long-term funding issue. We faced a cliff edge towards the end of last year. That is not the right way to do things. We must start getting the funding discussions moving so that, well in advance of the end of this financial year, the funding situation for the palliative and hospice sector is much clearer.