Hospices are in Crisis

I think everyone is entitled to a good death and hospices shouldn't have to rely on charity to keep them going. My friend had excellent care at home from the local hospice.

It really is shocking that these wonderful places, which fill a gap in end-of-life care, care for children with extreme needs, have to rely on charity.

Our local one I support every month.

A major loss of income for both CHAS the Children's Hospice and the adult equivalent occurred because of the pandemic. Many funeral services usually had a retiral collection for one or other of these or other charities, but whilst the number of attendees permitted at a funeral was strictly limited by covid rules there was a huge drop in the money raised in this way.

It's really worrying and, if hospices are forced to close or reduce the number of staff, the NHS will be forced to pick up all the cases hospices deal with at present.

The issue has been debated in the House of Lords.

They have asked the Government for extra help and Wes Streeting has responded but this is a matter of urgency. I hope his colleague, the Chancellor, has a change of heart where hospices are concerned.

Brad McLean, chair of East Anglia Children’s Hospice trustees, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme his team had received “no indication” about the future of their government grant.

"Hospices save the NHS money, are more efficient, agile, able to offer a much greater level of holistic support," he said.

Mr McLean asked: "With hospices coming close to being at breaking point, closing sites and making difficult decisions with no security of their future, what confidence and assurances can we be given to allow us to plan for 2025 and beyond?"

Streeting said he recognised "employer National Insurance contributions were a challenge for hospices.

I think hospices should have been excluded from these extra taxes, along with GP surgeries. And possibly other institutions too.

My friend died in our local hospice this time last year. I visited her there. It was my first experience of a hospice and it was lovely.

I saw a little report on a children’s hospice on television last night. I think it was in, or near Liverpool. Parents said how how vital to them it is.

I thought Labour was supposed to be the caring party but I don’t see much care towards these hospices which do such vital work and really do actually care.

I'm finding it extremely depressing and worrying.

I think we have lost our way somewhat with service provision for the dying in the UK. Hospices provide a very valuable role, but only for a select number of people, and each one sits in a bubble, only semi connected to other services, both NHS and charitable. I don’t know what the answer is, but I’m interested to hear everybody’s thoughts.

We have the wonderful Acorns Children's Hospices around here. Last time we went in, they asked us to sign a petition as the government are threatening to take/cut their grant. We do what we can. We donate monthly via standing order. We buy their Christmas and birthday cards. We buy books and other bits and bobs and donate items. What is the matter with this government? They seem to be picking on the most vulnerable.

Yes, I heard recently that the one my DD’s MiL* and her friends support, has lost 4 beds. Very sad and worrying.

*over the years they have raised over £100k for their local hospice, via coffee mornings/cake sales. The MiL is a brilliant cake maker!

I don’t understand why hospices are not government funded. All governments of whichever party, are guilty of not funding hospices properly, but now we are going to have an assisted dying bill, I think that it is time for the government to step up to the mark. It will be immoral if the government funds assisted dying but fails to fund hospices. It will invite the opinion that the government is only interested in killing people, especially expensive people such as the old or disabled, whilst not interested in funding hospices. I don’t think this is the case, but there will undoubtedly be those who draw that conclusion.

Yes, the Government needs to help and fast because that will be the perception.

Inevitably some people will draw that conclusion. I don’t think the government have joined the dots on this one.

So much in crisis now. Prisons. Hotels being used for irregular migrants. Not enough dentists. Potholes.
Where to bluddy start?
I feel a bit sorry for Labour to be honest.

Add paramedics/ambulance service to my list in crisis after I’ve just read this in the Daily Mail:

“A 95-year-old woman was left on the freezing pavement with a broken hip for five hours after ambulance chiefs told her she 'was not a priority'.”

How far have we fallen in our services? Truly shocking. In winter too. Poor woman.

So many services are broken after years of underfunding. There are big gaps to fill and no one wants to pay extra tax to fill them.

vegansrock

So many services are broken after years of underfunding. There are big gaps to fill and no one wants to pay extra tax to fill them.

Yes, we do.

Straightforward honest income tax.

vegansrock

So many services are broken after years of underfunding. There are big gaps to fill and no one wants to pay extra tax to fill them.

Hospices have never been funded by the Government, they make a contribution, that's all.

I’ve just heard on the BBC morning programme, from one of the Lords (but I missed his introduction, sorry) and he said that only 30% of funding comes from government for hospices, the other 70% comes from charity. I’m really concerned that government are happy for the NHS to fund assisted dying, but not to fund proper palliative care in hospices. This apparent anomaly will lead to accusations that the government are happy to kill off the old and expensive people, and it may not be true, but it will be easy to make the argument that it is true.

Diane Abbott was on too. I’ve never been very keen on her, but my word, she impressed me when she spoke on this subject today.

Yes, Diane Abbott, not a favourite, spoke well in the debate on assisted dying too.

Hospices have never been funded by the Government, they make a contribution, that's all

Which is totally wrong on every level

I make a monthly donation to a local children’s hospice. It costs six and a half million a year to keep the place going, doing their invaluable work, and the government contributes 16% of that. Like every other hospice they are stretched to the limit. It’s time the government opened its heart and its wallet, even if only for children’s hospices, but ideally for all hospices.