Chancellor Rachel Reeves insists she understands the “pressure” mounting on hospices, after a crisis-hit North East facility revealed that it is preparing to make major cuts.
Durham’s St Cuthbert’s Hospice announced the “devastating news” on Wednesday that 28 of its 124 staff were facing redundancy because of a funding shortage and that services may need to be scaled back. The charity said that hospices across the country were faced with “soaring pressures due to central Government funding not growing in line with inflation, the cost of living crisis and reliance on donations”.
It also called the looming increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, announced in Ms Reeves’ recent Budget, a “significant blow to a sector already struggling”. Speaking during a visit to Sunderland on Thursday, the Chancellor said that she knows the “valuable work that hospices do” – but declined to offer details of what help will be coming from the Government.
She added: “The National Insurance increase comes in in April next year, it has not come in yet. But I do recognise that after many years of cuts to funding, many local services are under pressure. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, will be setting out the allocations within the NHS but you will know that at the Budget we made a £22.6 billion commitment to the NHS and that includes funding for things not directly run by the health service like hospices. That money will be set out in the way it usually is and Wes will do that, including the money for hospices.”
Ms Reeves added that Mr Streeting or another minister would happily meet with City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy, who has vowed to “use every avenue available to me to support St Cuthbert’s Hospice to continue to provide as many services, and retain as many staff as possible”.
The hospice, which has been open for 36 years, warned on Wednesday that around 250 fewer people would be able to use its services next year if it cannot plug a £3.8 million funding gap. National charity Hospice UK recently called on the Department of Health and Social Care to provide £110 million in urgent funding for England’s hospices to prevent further cuts, after its research found that 300 inpatient beds out of a total 2,200 are currently closed.
Paul Marriott, CEO of St Cuthbert’s Hospice, said “St Cuthbert’s Hospice offers a safety net of care to people living with life-limiting illnesses. To people living with cancer, motor-neurone disease, dementia and chronic heart failure. I am so sad to think that this safety net may have to be pulled from them.
“In the recent debate on Assisted Dying, there was a huge focus by nearly everyone who spoke on both sides of the debate on the importance of good palliative and end of life care. It is a speciality that is so valued by those who need and use it, and yet it still relies on charitable funding for its delivery. What we offer is not just nice to have. It is something that should be accessible to all.”
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