Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department (a) collects and (b) holds on the number of people waiting for places in hospices run by charitable organisations.

We want a society where every person, as well as their families and carers, receives high-quality, compassionate care, from diagnosis through to end of life.

I recently met NHS England and discussions have begun on how to reduce inequalities and variation in access to, and the quality of, palliative and end of life care in England.  We will consider next steps on palliative and end of life care, including hospice funding, in the coming months.

We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, by driving three shifts in the way health care is delivered. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders, including those in the hospice sector, as we develop the plan.

The engagement process has been launched, and I would encourage the palliative and end of life care sector, including hospice providers, service users and their families, to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. More information is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/

The Department does not collect or hold data on the number of people waiting for places in hospices run by charitable organisations.