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 support hospices in (a) rural and (b) remote areas.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing National Health Services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between integrated care board (ICB) areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.

Due to the way the hospice movement organically grew, hospice locations were largely not planned with a view to providing even access across the country, or to prioritise areas of greatest need based on demographics. Therefore, there are inequalities in access to hospice services, especially for those living in rural or socio-economically deprived areas. NHS England has developed a palliative and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative and end of life care needs of those in their local population, thereby enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities.

I have met NHS England to discuss how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care. We, alongside key partners NHS England, will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.