Concerns over future of hospice care

The head of Strathcarron Hospice says it "isn't fair" to ask people to plug funding gaps for hospices.

Strathcarron Hospice need to raise £115,000 a week to keep their services running.

Hospice UK say yesterday's Budget "falls short" of the money needed to ensure staff are paid fairly.

Helen Malo, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager for Scotland at Hospice UK said: 
“We’re pleased that Scottish Government has recognised the severe and unsustainable financial pressures across the hospice sector at a time when demand for palliative care is at an all-time high. 

The Scottish Government has previously committed to pay parity for Scottish hospices and have emphasised their ongoing commitment to this in today’s draft budget. However, while the £6.5m announced for hospices today is a welcome initial step, this falls short of the £13.3m needed to ensure hospice staff are paid fairly for their work on par with the NHS.

Hospices will need to plug this gap through charitable donations to prevent further cuts and avoid losing skilled and dedicated staff. In the midst of a cost of living crisis this is an increasingly impossible ask, with two thirds of Scottish hospices having made or planning to make cuts in the next year, heaping pressure onto an already overloaded system.

We look forward to engaging with Scottish Government on how to fully implement pay parity ahead of the final budget in February to protect vital hospice care now, and how to urgently progress their commitment to a national funding framework for hospice care. Looking ahead to the elections all parties must make palliative care a national priority and commit to long-term sustainable funding for hospices.”

Mags McCarthy, CEO of Strathcarron Hospice and Co-chair of the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group, said:
“Hospices play a vital role in delivering palliative care, supporting families, and reducing pressure on NHS services. They support people to be cared for in their own communities, avoid hospital admissions and are an essential partner in wider system reform. 

Demand for hospice care is increasing, and they are delivering more complex care for more people, with resources that are already stretched to breaking point. The difference between funding announced today and the £13.3m hospices need to keep hospices running leaves a hole in hospice finances.  

It isn’t fair to ask local communities to keep plugging this gap, but if it’s not filled we will see more service cuts, more staff redundancies, and even more inequity across Scotland in who can access the end of life care they need.”