Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will ring-fence funding for the Palliative Care Unit at the Whipps Cross Hospital.

The proposed redevelopment of Whipps Cross does not involve the reconfiguration of services and envisages the new hospital providing the same core services as today, including the continued provision of high-quality specialist palliative and end of life care. A clinically led review of the model of care for the provision of specialist palliative care and end-of-life care in the new hospital is being undertaken by Barts Health NHS Trust, working closely with local partners and informed by engagement with patients and local interest groups.