Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) financial and (b) social impact of hospices on the (i) health and (ii) social care sectors.

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 at the end of life, and their loved ones.

Palliative and end of life care are broad, holistic approaches, provided through a range of professionals and providers, and generalists and specialists across the NHS, social care, and voluntary sector organisations, including hospices. Therefore, the financial and social impacts of hospices on the broader health and care sectors are difficult to measure because the relevant consultations and tasks are not always coded as palliative or end of life care.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices, to ensure they have the best physical environment for care, and £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices. We will set out the details of the funding allocation and dissemination in the coming weeks.

I am meeting with the major hospice and palliative and end of life care stakeholders early in February 2025 to discuss potential solutions on longer-term sector sustainability.