Hospice Funding 'Unfairness'

3.50.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 18th Oct 2004

MP Vincent Cable intervened, again in a debate in parliament last Wednesday to draw attention to the 'inequity' in NHS funding which means that voluntary sector children's hospices, like the new Shooting Star Trust hospice in Hampton, receive on average 8% of their funding from the government, while adult hospices receive on average 28% and hospitals 100%.

Vincent Cable secured a full debate in parliament about hospice funding a year ago, and intervened last week again to praise the Shooting Star hospice, now close to completion, and to press the case for the government doing more to 'leverage' the funding of volunteers.

"The completion this year of the Hampton, Shooting Star, hospice is a great triumph for hundreds of dedicated local volunteers who have raised most of the £6 million capital costs. But there now needs to be a sustained effort to raise the £1.5 to £2 million a year running costs. This puts a great strain on the voluntary fundraisers. They are great people and will do what has to be done. But the state benefits from the fact that volunteers are picking up what would otherwise be massive bills for the NHS, if children with very severe illnesses were long term hospital patients. There should, therefore, be a better balance between voluntary and state funding. Nor should hospices have to struggle with separate negotiations with a dozen Primary Care Trusts; an integrated approach to hospices is required".