Hospice UK responds to ITV News report on hospice funding

Hospices have been a vital part of the COVID response and they’re going to be desperately needed over winter.

Tracey Bleakley, CEO of Hospice UK

A report on ITV News on 24 September highlighted that a third of all hospices in England are on the brink of making redundancies and cutting back services for end of life care as the coronavirus pandemic continues to plunge the sector deeper into a funding crisis.

The report featured interviews with Dr Sarah Holmes from Marie Curie and our CEO Tracey Bleakley.

Responding to the report, Tracey says:

"The COVID pandemic has hit the hospice and end of life care sector hard, and many hospices are struggling to cope with a fall in community fundraising and the closure of charity shops, which collectively bring in approximately 70% of income.

"While the sector is incredibly grateful for previous emergency funds from the government, with the rise in COVID infections and continuation of social distancing and shielding measures, it will be stretched to its limits and unable to sustain the level of care needed in the longer term without more sustainable funding.

"Many hospices are now having to make hard decisions to ensure they can continue to provide care throughout the coming winter season, and long into the future, with a third of hospices in England currently talking about making redundancies and cutting services.  These measures may be permanent, which is catastrophic.

"Hospices have been a vital part of the COVID response and they’re going to be desperately needed over winter."

You can see the report, and contributions from both Tracey and Dr Sarah Holmes, on the ITV News website.