MP urges minister to support struggling hospices in Cumbria

On the floor of the House of Commons last night, local MP Tim Farron made the case for more financial support for hospices in Cumbria that are struggling with soaring costs.

According to Hospice UK, England’s adults’ hospices have faced a real-terms cut in their Government funding of £47m in the past two years.

The charity say that insufficient NHS funding means many hospices are struggling to keep up with inflation and rising costs.

Speaking during a Backbench Business Debate on Hospice Funding, Tim said: “St Mary’s Hospice, St John’s Hospice and Eden Valley Hospice, which serve the communities of Westmorland, struggle like others to find the funding that they need to keep going.

“One issue is increased pay settlements in the NHS, which are good, but to compete, and to get and retain staff, they need to raise their pay to keep pace.

“Does she agree that one model may well be that, rather than devolving this to ICBs, which are not elected and not directly accountable to anybody, the Government fund through the national health service pay rises at NHS pay rates directly to all our hospices, so they at least do not have to worry about that?”

Later on during the debate, the Minister responsible for end of life and palliative care, Helen Whately MP said: “Some honourable members have argued this evening for hospice funding to be centralised, taken away from integrated care boards and, I assume, allocated by either NHS England or the Department of Health and Social Care.

“While I understand their motivation in making that call, I do not agree. We purposefully set up ICBs to understand the healthcare needs of our local communities, to plan and commission services to meet those needs and, in so doing, to reduce health disparities.

“Our communities and their needs, and the services they already have in place, are different, and rarely is a one-size-fits-all decision made in Westminster the right answer. I stand by a more localised approach, in which there is, of course, variation.”