Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of local health authorities appeals process as a means to secure additional funding for charitable hospices.

Integrated care board (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. ICBs receive funding via their annual core allocation for resources. This is their recurrent budget which is uplifted and adjusted for their population on an annual basis. It is for ICBs to locally determine the utilisation of their core allocation, including funding for all healthcare, according to their assessment of the relevant healthcare needs of their population. It will be through this process that decisions regarding funding for hospices are made.

Whilst the majority of palliative care 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 end of life and their loved ones. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services.

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