Hospice UK fears 'devastating' effects of £77m funding gap

Hospices, which provide end of life care, are facing a major funding deficit, a charity has said

A national charity has warned hospices across the UK were facing a £77m funding deficit.

According to Hospice UK, the budget shortfalls at centres that provide end of life and palliative care have already led to service reductions.

The charity said without a new funding model, the coming years would be "devastating" for the sector.

The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it had made over £350m available to hospices since 2020.

A DHSC spokesperson said the government had also provided £60m in additional funding, including to some hospices, to deliver one-off payments to over 27,000 eligible staff employed by non-NHS organisations.

NHS England confirmed that, in 2024/25, it will provide £25m of funding to children's hospices in England.

Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations which provide a range of services which go beyond what statutory services are legally required to provide, the DHSC said.

They receive some statutory funding from integrated care boards (ICBs), which are responsible for the commissioning of end of life and palliative care services.

A parliamentary report published in January 2024 found that the current funding model for hospices was "not fit for purpose" and, as a result, the services and the value they provide to the health system are at risk.

Ministers had been due to debate a motion on hospice funding in the House of Commons on Monday.

'Funding challenges'

Hospice UK figures for the 2023/24 financial year showed the main drive behind increasing expenditures was staff salaries.

Emma Johnson, chief executive at St Leonard's Hospice in York, said hospices recruit from the same pool of staff as the NHS, meaning they need to match pay and conditions for staff retention.

Like other hospices across the country, St Leonard's, which needs around £7.5m a year to keep afloat, is facing major funding challenges amid increasing demand for its services.

"We receive less than £2m in statutory funding, that equates to around 27% of our running cost," Ms Johnson said.

"The other 73% is raised through shops, fundraising events and gifts in wills, which are absolutely essential."

She said while St Leonard's was not currently looking at cutting services, the picture could very well change in the future, adding: "Hospices could potentially go off the cliff edge within the next one to three years if we don't see an improvement in statutory funding."

St Leonard's Hospice in York said it heavily relied on fundraising to keep going

Meanwhile, St Luke's Hospice in Sheffield provides support to around 6,000 terminally ill people every year.

Chief executive Peter Hartland said despite "robust cost control systems" and "excellent financial management", the charity was currently running at a £500,000 planned deficit.

Mr Hartland said around 26% of the total running costs were currently covered by government funders, with most of the funding coming from fundraising and retail operations.

CEO at The Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield, Gareth Pierce

The Forget Me Not Children's Hospice in Huddersfield equally relies on fundraising efforts to keep doors open.

CEO Gareth Pierce told BBC Breakfast: "We start every single year with that degree of uncertainty and what we say is that we would like to support families today, tomorrow and in the future.

"But can I hand on heart say that I can offer that certainty to families in three, four, five, 10 years' time? Possibly not."

In response to the £77m funding deficit reported by Hospices UK, the NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board said it was committed to working with partners to ensure services were financially sustainable.

NHS England said it released £1.5bn additional funding to integrated care boards to provide support for inflation.

A spokesperson for Hospice UK said the money referenced related to a previous financial year and would not be of help for hospices facing financial pressures right now.

They added: "We also know from our members and our own research that very few hospices will have seen any of this money.

"The funding hospices receive from ICBs varies significantly across the country, creating a postcode lottery in end of life care."