South Cumbria hospice funding 'worst in England' - MP

St Mary's has hospices in Ulverston and Barrow

South Cumbria's hospices have the worst funding in England, an MP has claimed.

The allocation by the local NHS integrated care board (ICB) usually increases annually but St Mary's and St John's hospices have not been given any extra this year.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron said underfunding would be "painful" for families and add an extra burden on local hospitals.

Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB said it was reviewing its funding decision.

"The ICB is facing severe financial pressures, which means we are applying scrutiny to all of our spending," a spokesperson said.

St Mary's, which has sites in Barrow and Ulverston, looks after about 800 people a year.

Chief executive Val Stangoe said she was "really quite shocked" at the funding allocation, given salary and cost-of-living increases.

"We're used to there being a very minimal increase annually but usually for the last few years there has been something," Ms Stangoe said.

Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron raised the issue in the House of Commons

About 25% of the hospice's funding comes from the ICB and the rest from donations and charity, so it would have to work harder to fundraise and approach the local community to contribute more, she added.

Liberal Democrat Mr Farron raised the issue in the House of Commons this week, asking health minister Helen Whately to intervene.

She said it would "not be the right thing" for her to get involved in a "specific conversation between a hospice and an ICB".

However, she said she was seeking "transparency" on how much money given to ICBs was "getting through" to hospices to help with inflation.

Mr Farron said hospice energy bills had tripled and salary costs increased by an extra £500,000.

The average rise in payments to hospices across England was 2.7%, he said.

"If hospices can't care for people at the end of their lives and their families at the level they do now that is going to be tragic, painful, miserable for those families," he said.

It would also "add an extra burden onto the NHS and our hospitals that they simply cannot bear", he added.