Hospices in England at risk due to financial pressures

Around 40% of hospices in England could be forced to make cuts in patient care if new funding is not secured in the coming months. This would put half of children’s hospices at risk of reduced services and more than 12,000 terminally ill patients unable to access end-of-life care.

Research by the Liberal Democrats based on data from Hospice UK and the Office of National Statistics reveal that more than half of hospices ended the last financial year in deficit. One in five had a shortfall of over £1 million.

This comes as costs rise for end-of-life care and donations have reduced. Hospices rely on charitable donations to run with only a third of their funds coming from the NHS. Estimates put the shortfall for hospices across the country at £47 million since 2022.

Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridge is due to lose over £800,000 of funding over the coming months, leading it to reduce capacity in its inpatient unit from 21 beds to 12.

Hospice care is increasing in England and funding issues risk reducing the number of people who can access dignified end-of-life care. This comes at the same time that Parliament continue to consider the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill advocating for assisted suicide.

CEO of Arthur Rank Hospice, Sharon Allen, spoke to LBC who reported the story. She said "The community is understandably upset and people are worried that maybe in the future, when they or someone they love wants to access our care, it won't be there… What we're asking for is for long, sustainable, contracted funding so that hospices can continue to provide the specialist care that we've been providing for over 50 years now.”

The Liberal Democrats, who produced the research, plan to introduce a bill in Parliament next week which guarantees universal access to hospice care. They are also pushing for the Health Secretary to be transparent about the current gap in funding.