Key Summary
- Government pledges £80 million over three years to support children’s hospices in England
- Funding aims to help 99,000 children with life-limiting conditions and their families
- Money will go through local ICBs to ensure stable, community-based compassionate care
The government has allocated £80 million for all children’s and young people’s hospices in England over the next three years.
This is to support the terminally ill children as well as their distressed families.
Around 99,000 children in the UK suffer from fatal health conditions such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, brain or spinal injuries.
Hospices provide care, support and wraparound services for these children and their families.
The funding is based on the government’s £100 million investment in hospices to provide them with compassionate care.
The government has increased the funding as such life limiting health issues have tripled over the past two decades.
This funding will be adjusted for inflation and distributed through local integrated care boards (ICBs), on behalf of NHS England.
This funding will help the government’s move to shift healthcare from hospitals to communities as part of its 10-year Health Plan.
It will ensure that the patients and their families receive appropriate personalised care.
Minister of state for Care, Stephen Kinnock said, “Children’s hospices provide invaluable support to children, families and loved ones facing unimaginable challenges.”
“Through this funding, we are making sure hospices can continue delivering invaluable, compassionate and high-quality care to children and their families.”
Hospice UK CEO Toby Porter welcomed the move and said, “The stability provided by a multi-year settlement will have a real impact on the care children’s hospices provide and the families they support.”
“We look forward to working with the government on long-term reforms which are essential to safeguarding all hospice services.”
