Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase funding for hospices.

As part of the Government’s COVID-19 response, £257 million was made available to the independent hospice sector to increase discharge capacity and alleviate pressures on the acute sector. Independent hospices have since returned to business as usual funding arrangements, with their services commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS England and NHS Improvement expect CCGs to ensure that the provision of these services effectively meets the needs of the local population and ensures high quality personalised care.

The NHS Long Term Plan also states that NHS England is increasing its contribution to the national children’s hospice grant by match-funding CCGs who commit to increase their investment in local children’s palliative and end of life care services, including children’s hospices. This will provide £25 million a year by 2023/24.