As the largest provider of care at home for people with life-limiting and terminal conditions, the hospice sector warmly welcomes this vision.
Leading charities Help the Hospices and Children’s Hospice UK now urge the government to take a closer look at where home and community care is already happening and do more to support, improve and most importantly learn from established services.
Jonathan Ellis, director of public policy and parliamentary affairs, Help the Hospices, comments:
"Personalised care and support for patients and their families is at the heart of what hospices do – supporting people primarily in their own homes. However, we urge the Government to recognise that the home is not always the best setting for someone at the end of their life."
"Hospice care is about giving people the option to be cared for in a setting that is right for them at the different stages of their illness. The government’s focus should be on giving patients more choice and control over the care that they receive."
"We also want to see today’s proposals extended beyond chemotherapy and dialysis – giving patients with other life-limiting and terminal conditions equal access to personalised and expert care."
Commenting on Andy Burnham’s specific call for better community servicers for children and young people, Barbara Gelb, Chief Executive, Children’s Hospices UK, added:
"We welcome the government’s focus on giving children and young people better access to care at home and in the community."
"But we have to question why there is still no commitment to extending central government funding to children’s hospices beyond 2011 when they clearly understand the value of community based care and support?"
Media Enquires
Help the Hospices: Zoe Grumbridge on 020 7520 8251 / media@helpthehospices.org.uk
Children’s Hospices UK: Tom de Pass on 0117 989 7831 or / tom@childhospice.org.uk
Help the Hospices
Help the Hospices is the leading charity supporting hospice care throughout the UK. In particular, we support our 213 hospice members in their vital work on the front line of caring for people who face the end of life.
The majority of hospice care is provided by our members – local charities rooted in the communities they serve. Hospices provide a wide range of care for people living with life-limiting and terminal illness and their families, from inpatient beds to day care and care for people in their own homes.
Health services are funded separately by the devolved government in each UK nation. In England the government contributes an average of 32% of running costs for adult hospices (predominantly through primary care trusts) and about 15% for children’s hospices – the rest has to be found by charitable fundraising (note: based on latest figures available). About 100,000 volunteers work in UK hospices, and hospices could not do the work they do without them.
Children’s Hospices UK
Children's Hospices UK is the national voice for the UK’s children’s hospice services, including the 38 in England. Children’s hospice services offer a unique, vital and free service to life-limited children and their families, one which saves the NHS millions of pounds a year.
Many children’s hospices are concerned about their services after March 2011, when emergency government funding of £10 million a year – known as "Section 64" funding – runs out. In total, children’s hospices receive 16 per cent of their income from central and local government – about 11 per cent from Section 64 and 5 per cent from PCTs. The rest comes largely from voluntary donations.
Children’s hospices have been getting Section 64 funding since 2006. Without it, over a third would currently be in deficit and most would have to offer children and families more limited support. After March 2011, the government’s expectation is that Section 64 funding will stop and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) will find the extra money instead. Unfortunately, as things stand, PCTs look very unlikely to provide the extra £10 million-plus needed. If they don’t, hospices are likely to face a significant drop in income and many will be in deficit. Hence the need for Section 64 funding to continue.
Children’s hospices are more than buildings and they don’t care just for children about to die. They provide specialist care and support, whether in the hospice or at home, for children at any stage of their illness, helping with clinical and emotional challenges over many months and years. They also provide daytime activities and access to short breaks. When the time comes, they provide end-of-life care, helping children and families approach death with dignity and peace.
Children’s hospices also care for families and loved ones – parents facing a future without their child, brothers and sisters who get overlooked, friends and grandparents. They provide a whole safety net of practical assistance and bereavement care and help families avoid the need for psychological or social support later.
www.childhospice.org.uk
