Hospice leaders warn hundreds of beds out of use

About 300 hospice inpatient beds are currently closed or out of use in England, hospice leaders have warned.

They say a lack of funding and staff are the primary reasons why some of England's 170 hospices have had to close beds permanently or take them out of use.

Hospice UK, which represents the sector, is now calling for an urgent package of government funding to prevent further cuts. The Department of Health said it was looking at how to financially support hospices to ensure they are sustainable.

The debate over assisted dying has increased the focus on hospices, with some arguing that the priority should be raising the quality of end-of-life care to allow patients to make more informed choices.

Hospice leaders have been warning of a financial crisis for much of this year.

They argue that income from the health service has lagged behind rising costs, with some hospices announcing cuts to clinical jobs.

Only about a third of funding comes from the NHS – the rest has to be raised from donations, fundraising and charity shops.

For hospices, which provide both community and in-patient care, there is now increasing concern because of the prospect of higher employer national insurance contributions.

Hospice UK says about 300 beds are closed or out of use in England - out of a total of 2,200 - and the number is increasing.

The organisation has called on the government for £110m of new funding to prevent further cuts over the next year.

Meanwhile, a children’s hospice in Huddersfield has announced that up to 16 staff will be made redundant because of a funding gap of £1m. 

The Forget Me Not hospice says the decision follows rising staff and energy costs plus uncertainty over statutory funding, combined with a tough year for fundraising.

'A huge cap'

Annette Alcock, Hospice UK's director of programmes, said the way that hospices are funded and commissioned by the NHS is "acting as a huge cap on what they can do", while also blaming "underlying pressures like staff shortages".

She added: "If the government can act in both the short and long term to resolve these problems, these figures are clear evidence that hospices can do a lot more for patients, and a lot more for the NHS.

"That's true out in the community too, where most of hospice care is actually delivered.

"With better funding and commissioning, hospices could provide so much more care where people most want it - at home."

Elinor Eustace, CEO at St Giles Hospice in the Midlands, said NHS funding has not kept up with the rate of inflation, meaning the hospice is unable to run at full capacity.

"We're running a waiting list for our beds and community services - we've had to make really difficult choices," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

She said a lack of "sustainable funding model" is leaving too many hospices unclear about their budgets.

"We genuinely don't know what our funding is for next year," she added.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The choices the chancellor made in the Budget allowed us to invest another £26bn in the NHS.

"We are looking at how we can financially support hospices next year to ensure they are sustainable."

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has previously indicated that a finance package will be announced before Christmas.

Hospice leaders say about £100m would stabilise their balance sheets at least until the end of next year and cover the cost of higher national insurance contributions. But they add that it will take more than this to significantly improve the quality of care.

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