Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding to hospices in Wokingham.

The Government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting, and hospices will have a big role to play in that shift.

Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people, and their families, at end of life.

The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth and range of the palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.  To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications, which are available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/palliative-and-end-of-life-care-statutory-guidance-for-integrated-care-boards-icbs/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/service-specifications-for-palliative-and-end-of-life-care-children-and-young-people-cyp/