Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prospects of equitable access to hospice care for all children and young people who need palliative and end of life care in 2024.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that access to high-quality, palliative and end of life care can make all the difference to individuals and their loved ones. Funding for children’s and young people’s palliative and end of life care is made available locally through integrated care boards (ICBs), which are responsible for commissioning services in response to the needs of their local population.
In addition, NHS England has confirmed that it will be renewing the Children and Young People’s hospice grant for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million grant funding for children’s hospices. NHS England is reprioritising budgets for 2024/25, in light of the revised assessment of financial position and, whilst it is holding funding aside for the children and young people’s hospice sector, it cannot confirm further details, including the distribution mechanism, until 2024/25 financial planning is concluded.
Children and young people’s palliative and end of life care is provided by a range of services and providers from across the statutory and voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors. The majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, but we recognise that the voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play a very vital part in providing support to people at end of life and their loved ones.
The Government has not made a direct assessment of the prospects of equitable access to hospice care for all children and young people who need palliative and end of life care in 2024. However, NHS England’s palliative and end of life care team has recently engaged with 24 ICBs to understand how to better support commissioners and has also reviewed all 42 ICB Joint Forward Plans for their inclusion of palliative and end of life care, with 69% making a specific mention. Further analysis is ongoing, but the intention is to use this to help shape and focus support to ICBs.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they expect integrated care boards to be able to identify how many children and young people access children’s hospices; and what steps they will take if they cannot.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children and young people’s palliative and end of life care is provided by a range of local services and providers from across the statutory and voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors, including hospices, with the experience and skills to meet those needs.
While there is no explicit requirement for integrated care boards (ICBs) to identify how many children and young people specifically access children's hospices, commissioning of children and young people’s palliative and end of life care services is the statutory duty of ICBs, which must commission these services in response to the needs of their population,
In July 2022, NHS England published statutory guidance for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, setting out the considerations for ICBs to meet their legal duties and makes clear reference to the importance of access to services. A copy of the guidance is attached.
NHS England has also published a service specification for children and young people which provide guidance on undertaking assessments to enable high-quality commissioning of services that meet both population need and preferences. A copy of the specification is attached.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much money was spent per case on palliative and end of life care for children and young people in (1) 2022, and (2) 2023; and how much they anticipate spending in 2024.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government does not hold information on how much money was spent per case on palliative and end of life care for children and young people in 2022 and 2023. Patient-level spend is not collated at a national level, with spend based on need determined during the integrated care board (ICB) commissioning process.
At a national level, NHS England supports palliative and end of life care for children and young people through the Children and Young People’s hospice grant. The grant provided approximately £17 million in 2021/22, £21 million in 2022/23 and £25 million in 2023/24 directly to children and young people’s hospices. NHS England has confirmed that it will be renewing the grant for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million grant funding for children’s hospices using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. NHS England is reprioritising budgets for 2024/25, in light of the revised assessment of financial position and, whilst it is holding funding aside for the children and young people’s hospice sector, it cannot confirm further details, including the distribution mechanism, until 2024/25 financial planning is concluded.
Additionally, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan commitment, NHS England has provided approximately £8.5 million match-funding to participating ICBs and formerly clinical commissioning groups between 2022/23 and 2023/24 that committed to invest in children and young people’s palliative and end of life care, including hospices, giving a total investment of £17 million for that period.
Asked by: Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what directions and guidance the Department of Health and Social Care will provide to integrated care boards on commissioning palliative and end of life care for children and young people.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children and young people’s palliative and end of life care is provided by a range of services and providers from across the statutory and voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors. Commissioning of these services is the statutory duty of integrated care boards (ICBs), which must commission palliative and end of life care services in response to the needs of their local population and ensure that they are provided by a range of local organisations with the experience and skills to meet those needs.
In July 2022, NHS England published statutory guidance for commissioners on palliative and end of life care, setting out the considerations for ICBs to meet their legal duties. A copy of this guidance is attached.
NHS England has also published a service specification for children and young people, which provides guidance on undertaking assessments to enable high-quality commissioning of services that meet both population need and preferences. A copy of this specification is attached.
NHS England’s palliative and end of life care team has recently engaged with 24 ICBs to understand how to better support commissioners, and has also reviewed all 42 ICB Joint Forward Plans for their inclusion of palliative and end of life care, with 69% of those plans making a specific mention. Further analysis is ongoing, but the intention is to use this information to help shape and focus support to ICBs.