Hospices: Impact of NHS Pay Increases

Lord Judd Excerpts

Monday 18th June 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I am sorry that that meeting has not taken place, and of course I am always glad to meet the noble Lord to discuss this issue. I am glad that the threat of a meeting has had the desired result, and clearly, I agree with him that we have to make sure that hospices are equally attractive places to work as is the NHS more broadly.

[Lord Judd (Lab)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a vice-president of Hospice at Home in west Cumbria, where I live. This Question is very important. Does the Minister not agree that hospices work best when they work very closely with the health service? That is certainly the case in west Cumbria. We have become part of the co-operative provision of services and care to the community as a whole, but raising the necessary funds is a tremendous task. I hope that the Government will look very seriously at how hospices can be supported in ensuring that the nurses working for them with so much devotion are able to enjoy any improvements in the remuneration of nurses across the country.

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I can reassure the noble Lord that we are looking at that. Hospices work closely with local CCGs, which provide around 30% of their funding. We estimate that around 9,000 nurses work in hospices, and clearly we want to make sure that that number not only stays level but increases so that we can start to deliver the choice that we have committed to in palliative care for people.