Sector news and member updates

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

We are delighted that the government has announced a funding package of £126 million for hospices in England. You can read our full response to the announcement on our website.

As part of the ongoing engagement process allowing people to feed into the 10 Year Health Plan, NHS England have launched ‘Workshop in a Box’. This set of resources will enable you to hold a workshop to engage with your communities about the change they would like to see in the NHS.

You can also sign up to briefings held by the NHS, which share further detail on how to use the resources.

The resource page includes a feedback form to allow you to feed information from the workshop into the 10 Year Health Plan. Feedback from any Workshop in a Box must be shared by 5pm on 14th February. 

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.

The recent draft Scottish budget brought a significant win to Scottish hospices’ funding campaign, with Scottish Government committing to ongoing funding for hospices to match pay increases with NHS staff.

Scottish Government states: “from 2025-26 we will align the support we provide for pay uplifts in the Hospice sector to the outcomes of the NHS Agenda for Change negotiations. This will ensure that hospices will get the additional funding needed to see their healthcare staff match pay increases with NHS staff.”

The Scottish Government also committed £4 million in its draft budget for hospices. This is lower than Scottish hospices have asked for and will still leave hospices facing a significant funding gap.

We have asked for urgent clarity around the detail of the funding announcement and will work with Scottish hospices on next steps.

Thank you to all the hospices in Scotland for the huge collective effort over the last few weeks on the hospice funding campaign.

On 10th December, the Welsh Government announced new funding for Welsh hospices in their draft budget. They are allocating £3 million in recurring funding to support the hospice sector, recognising the need for long-term support for hospices in Wales.

This announcement represents an important step towards acknowledging the significant financial pressure hospices are under. However, it does not address the immediate funding challenges facing Welsh hospices.

Following the announcement, we are continuing to put pressure on the Welsh Government to support hospices with immediate funding challenges this year. We are also urging them to provide assurance that this recurring funding will form part of a long-term sustainable funding settlement.