End-of-life charity 'sad' to lose home care contract

Marie Curie's contract to provide end-of-life care at people's homes will end on 31 March

A charity has said it is "saddened" that its home care service for end-of-life patients is set to end.

Marie Curie's contract with the NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB) to provide care in people's homes will end on 31 March.

The charity said it would continue exploring what alternative support could be offered to dying people and their families in Dorset.

NHS Dorset ICB said it had an ongoing responsibility to "offer the best care along with demonstrating value for money".

Marie Curie currently provides end-of-life care for people both in hospices and at their homes.

It said it had been given notice by the NHS Dorset ICB that its service contract, which sees its medical staff support people at home, would not be renewed.

'Serious conversations' needed

Karen Burfitt, a director at Marie Curie South West, said the charity was "saddened" by the news.

She said end-of-life care at home was "urgently needed" to reduce pressure on the NHS and save people from "avoidable and traumatic emergency admissions".

"We are concerned that decommissioning our specialist service in favour of increased use of personal care agencies will compromise quality of care," she added.

The charity said NHS Dorset ICB had suggested it join the Dorset Provider Framework, but doing so "wasn't feasible" for the organisation.

It said that framework "was designed for agencies that provide personal care to a broad range of people, which differs from the specialist end of life care we provide".

In a statement, Dorset ICB said: "All of our current providers were given the opportunity to join that framework, but some did not determine this was the right business decision for them.

"As such the current contract arrangement for care with Marie Curie will not be renewed from April 2025."

It added it had "no concerns regarding capacity or capability of providers [on the Dorset Provider Framework] to provide the care required".

Marie Curie said it was in consultation with staff who would be affected and was supporting the people they care for.

The Department of Health has been approached for comment.