Children's hospice grant brings ‘clarity’ but challenges persist

An £80m funding commitment for children’s hospices in England ‘avoids a cliff edge’ for the sector, but workforce and funding concerns remain, sector leaders have said.

The government has today announced a multi-year deal that will see children and young people’s hospices receive £80m over three years.

Ministers said £26m would be allocated annually between 2026 and 2029, with funds to be adjusted for inflation and distributed via integrated care boards (ICBs) on behalf of NHS England (NHSE).

The funding can be used to cover 24/7 end of life nursing care, as well as respite care for families caring for children with serious health needs, according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Allocation of funding for individual hospices over the three years will be ‘published in due course’.

The funding builds on a previous £100m government investment into hospices that was announced earlier this year.

‘Much-needed clarity’

Paul Farthing, chief executive of Shooting Star Children’s Hospices, told Nursing in Practice that the funding commitment gives ‘much-needed clarity’, but warned challenges still remain across the sector.

‘This is a positive step forward. However, we must not lose sight of the broader challenges facing children’s palliative care – including workforce shortages and persistent funding gaps,’ Mr Farthing said.

‘We want to work with the government to ensure that all hospices have a long-term stable funding settlement, which will require them to invest more in the specialist clinical services we provide.’

Growing financial pressures

Mike Bartlett, chief executive of Julia’s House children’s hospices, told Nursing in Practice that costs ‘continue to rise’ in the hospice sector, and that cuts could have been inevitable without the children’s hospice grant.

He said the announcement ‘avoids a cliff edge for children’s hospices’ and that he was ‘appreciative and relieved’ to hear of the news of funding.

‘For Julia’s House, it is a vital source of income as we receive just 8% ongoing funding from the government, one of the lowest in the country,’ he said.

‘We do feel the government is listening and we hope now to work with ministers on how to even out the huge variation in local health board funding of hospice care, which is key to finding a sustainable long-term solution.

‘Our costs continue to rise and the fundraising environment is challenging – working towards a long-term funding solution for the hospice sector remains a priority for us all.’

Bringing reassurance

Nick Carroll, chief executive of Together for Short Lives, added: ‘Children’s hospices are amazing and create precious moments of joy for seriously ill children and their families.

‘As demand for this lifeline care grows in both volume and complexity, children’s hospices are providing more support than ever before.’

Mr Carroll said the funding will ‘bring some clarity and reassurance’ to the children’s hospice sector.

‘I look forward to continuing to work with ministers to make sure children’s hospices are in a position to play a full role in realising the shifts in healthcare set out in the government’s 10 Year Plan,’ he added.

‘Together, it’s vital that we shape a palliative care delivery plan which means seriously ill children can access high quality, sustainable support in hospital, in the community and in children’s hospices.’

Care minister Stephen Kinnock said: ‘Children’s hospices provide invaluable support to children, families and loved ones facing unimaginable challenges.

‘Through this funding we are making sure hospices can continue delivering invaluable, compassionate, and high-quality care to children and their families – and ending the cliff edge of short-sighted, annual funding cycles – providing certainty for children’s hospices, but crucially for those they care for.’

In July, the health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said he had ‘never been comfortable’ with how funding for hospices is reliant on public donations and that the government should ‘leverage more support’ for the sector.

Last year, hospices shared how they could be forced to ‘scale down’ nursing services and reduce respite support following the national insurance (NI) increases announced in the Autumn Budget.

And one hospice told Nursing in Practice it would not be able to scale up nursing services to meet demands because of the additional financial pressures without additional financial support.