Sector news and member updates

We understand that these are challenging times for generating income, and we want to help. That’s why we’re offering our members the opportunity to partner with local businesses to offer our range of wellbeing products, with 25% of any referral going directly to support your hospice.
 
We created Compassionate Employers to help organisations care for their employees during difficult times—whether they’re facing grief, loss, or caregiving responsibilities. We provide HR policy reviews and workforce bereavement training to support businesses in nurturing a compassionate workplace. These services can be booked individually to best meet the needs of their employees.
 
Together, we can make a difference, for your hospice and the wider community.
 
Join our Hospice Income Generation Leaders network to find out more about this opportunity, or contact the Compassionate Employers team.

You may have seen significant media speculation in the past week that there will be an announcement on additional funding for hospices in England before Christmas.

This was confirmed by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 13th November, and restated during a constituency visit to St Francis Hospice on Friday 15th November.

We are urgently working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on the details of any funding that is announced. We will be pressing the case that the DHSC needs to take account of not only the recent rise in Employers National Insurance and the minimum wage, but wider and longstanding cost pressures associated with NHS pay increases.

Please continue to liaise with your local MPs to keep the pressure up. It's important, in particular, to emphasise that our cost pressures go significantly above and beyond the National Insurance increase.

For further support on liaising with your MPs please contact our Policy Team.

Keep up-to-date with discussions and activity around assisted dying by bookmarking our information page for members.

NCVO and ACEVO are working with the Government to develop a new Civil Society Covenant that will:

• support collaboration between civil society organisations and government
• ensure respect for different roles and protect independence
• support all public bodies and civil society organisations
• build on and support existing agreements in place at a local level
• complement other arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

NCVO is looking for input from organisations including hospices. Providing feedback on the draft Covenant Framework principles should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.

The deadline for submissions is midday on Thursday, 12th December.

NHS England is inviting colleagues across health and care to propose breakout sessions to take place at NHS ConfedExpo 2025. These sessions will showcase and share good ideas, practice and learning from diverse perspectives.

Submit a session proposal.

To support submissions, there will be an online briefing call on Monday 18th November from 2 - 3pm. A recording will be added to NHS ConfedExpo website for anyone unable to attend. 

The Government has launched a consultation to inform its new 10 year plan for the health service in England. This follows Lord Darzi’s independent review of the NHS in England.

This plan will be the driving force behind all changes the new Government makes in health and care in England. It is essential that the hospice voice is heard and palliative and end of life care is considered.

We will be responding to the consultation. We will emphasise:

• how hospices can help the government to shift more care into the community
• how good palliative care can keep people living well until the end 
• the funding and workforce challenges facing the hospice sector
• inequity in access to palliative and end of life care
• that hospices need support to make better use of technology.

We encourage all hospices in England, and their staff and patients, to respond to the consultation as well. The more voices championing the importance of palliative and end of life care, the more likely we are to be heard.

Feed into the consultation. The deadline for submission is Monday 2nd December at 5pm.

If you have any questions or would like to feed into our response to the consultation, please email our Policy Team.

The Northern Ireland Assembly’s Health Committee is holding an inquiry into palliative care services in Northern Ireland. The Committee wants to:

• develop its understanding of the current provision of palliative and hospice care
• find out more about the challenges in the provision of, and access to, this type of care
• learn more about excellence in palliative and hospice care by identifying examples of best practice.

The Committee has launched a survey for organisations and professionals to share their views on palliative care services in Northern Ireland.

Hospice UK will be responding to this survey and welcome comments from our members on the questions posed by the Committee. Email our Policy Team to let us know your thoughts. 

The deadline to respond is Friday 10th January.

Scottish Government has launched a consultation on its draft palliative care strategy for 2025 - 2030; Palliative Care Matters for All. 

We will be responding to the consultation, and engaging with Scottish hospices over the coming weeks. Please also consider submitting your own hospice response.

The consultation closes on 10 January 2025.