Hospices in England are set to receive a £100 million boost amid fears of closure
Hospices in England are set to receive a funding boost of more than £100 million amid concerns that some end-of-life services could close due to the impact of national insurance increases and pay rises.
However, most of the money will be set aside for capital expenditure and thus cannot be used to cover day-to-day costs. The hospice sector said that while the money was welcome, it was not an answer to recurring cost pressures.
The investment, announced in the House of Commons by Health Minister Karin Smyth, was heralded as “the largest investment in hospice and end-of-life care in a generation”.
“This government recognizes the range of cost pressures that the hospice sector has been facing for a number of years,” she told MPs.
The funding, which will be split into two parts and will run from this year to 2026, will include an additional £100 million for adult and children’s hospices, covering the period 2024-2025. A further £26 million will go to hospices for children and young people in the period 2025-2026.
The Department of Health said that while the £26 million can be used for day-to-day expenses, the £100 million amount is limited to capital expenditure, including work to renovate buildings and improve IT systems.
Shadow Health Secretary Caroline Johnson, whose urgent question on the issue in the House of Commons led to Smyth announcing the money, said she was unsure that hospices, most of which are run as charities but which also receive government funding for their NHS-related works, would be better off.
Johnson and other Conservative MPs asked Smyth to say whether hospices would be better off overall, given the impact of the rise in national insurance for employers, which was unveiled in the Budget and which hospice organizations thought would collectively cost £30 million per year. Smyth refused to say anything.
Hospices were already struggling with higher wage costs to offset the 5.5% pay rise for public sector medical staff, with the sector estimating an additional shortfall of around £60m in total.
The wider role of end-of-life care has also come into focus following MPs’ vote late last month on a bill that, if passed, would legalize assisted death in England and Wales in certain limited circumstances.
Matthew Reed, the chief executive of Marie Curie, which operates a range of hospices, said he welcomed the extra money and hoped for clarification on how it would be used.
He said: “However, a limited and one-off investment will not meet the recurring cost pressures and ongoing needs of the sector – including the long-term impact of additional national insurance contributions, continued pressures from the rising cost of wages, and an increased number of people who will die in the next twenty years.”
In a statement to coincide with the House of Commons announcement, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Hospices provide the care and support for patients and families in the most difficult of times, so it is only right that they are given the financial support to provide these services. This package will ensure that they can continue to provide the loving care that everyone deserves in the best possible environment as they approach the end of their lives.”
The Liberal Democrats, who have called for hospices and other NHS services to be exempt from the national insurance increase, said that while the extra money was welcome, it was “very disappointing” that there was no national insurance exemption been.