£80 million funding boost for children’s and young people’s hospices

Department for Education / Department of Health and Social Care announced that children’s and young people’s hospices in England will receive nearly £80 million over 3 years. 
The money will be distributed via local Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) on behalf of NHS England and is intended to provide much-needed certainty for services supporting children with life-limiting conditions and their families.

This provides a measure of certainty and stability for critical services supporting families during profound and difficult times. We know that Hospices for children and young people play a unique role, combining medical, emotional and family support

Overall, the announcement has been broadly welcomed by the children’s hospice sector — but with important caveats.

• Hospice UK, the national charity representing hospices, described the settlement as “a welcome and significant first step to placing the children’s hospice sector on a sustainable footing.” CEO Toby Porter noted that the multi-year nature of the funding provides greater stability for planning and service delivery. 
• Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, which provides social palliative support (rather than hospice-bed based care) for families with a terminally ill child, also welcomed the funding for hospices — but pointed out that this boost does not cover many charitable organisations outside the hospice model, nor does it solve the broader funding challenge for the palliative care sector. 
• In Parliament, commentary from MPs was similarly mixed. For example, during debate one MP welcomed the three-year settlement for hospices but stressed that “this level of funding does not solve the children’s hospice funding crisis, nor does it put children’s hospices on a genuinely long-term, sustainable financial footing.”

Despite the positive news, several concerns remain around scale of funding versus need, increasing operational pressures and consistency across the Country.