By Isle of Wight Observer
Pleas for increased funding for hospices fell on deaf ears during a debate in the House of Commons on Monday.
MPs argued that hospices are overly reliant on income from charity fund-raising, due to a lack of government funding, and said that end-of-life palliative care has become a “postcode lottery”.
Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) have a legal duty to purchase palliative care services, and must ensure access to medical and nursing, out of hours and rapid response services, supporting patients’ preferences and choices. However, MPs from across the country complained that ICBs are not funding hospices fairly, leaving them unable to plan and invest properly.
Mountbatten’s CEO, Nigel Hartley, recently explained to IW Observer readers, via a Vectis View column, that fund-raising covers two-thirds of the cost of providing end-of-life care to around 2,500 Islanders and their loved ones, with on third funded by the NHS. But despite costs rising by 8 per cent annually, the Hampshire & Isle of Wight ICB, which is currently under “recovery support” due to financial problems, has refused to increase funding to the Island’s only hospice. There is currently a £350,000 gap in Mountbatten’s NHS funding.
MP Bob Seely joined other MPs complaining about the current situation. He said: “We are not asking for the NHS to step in, but we are asking for the NHS to pay its way and, if it is using hospices, to give them sufficient funding.”
However, health minister, Helen Whately, defended the “localised approach” to hospice funding. She said: “We set-up ICBs purposefully to understand the healthcare needs of our local communities, and to plan and commission services to meet those needs, and in so doing to reduce health disparities.
“There aren’t easy answers to the questions raised this evening; there rarely are. I don’t have a pot of money otherwise going unspent for hospices, nor do ICBs or NHS England.”
Mal Butler