Shropshire MP calls for action to protect vital hospice services
A Shropshire MP has warned that terminally ill patients across the country are facing cuts to vital hospice care as her party launched a campaign to save services.
Helen Morgan is supporting a Liberal Democrat campaign in Parliament to protect local hospice services, which highlights that many are “close to collapse” unless Government ministers act.
The warning comes after the North Shropshire MP, who serves as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, took part in the Oswestry 10k road race in aid of the town’s Hope House Children’s Hospice, raising £1,200 for the charity.
It’s been reported that two in five hospices nationally are planning cuts this year, with 50% of children’s hospices saying they may reduce or stop providing end-of-life care altogether if new funding is not guaranteed within six months.
More than half of hospices ended the 2024-5 financial year in deficit, with one in five seeing a deficit of over £1m.
Recent short-term funding was welcomed by the sector, but planning for the next financial year shows a bleak forecast, coupled with spiralling energy and National Insurance costs. As a result, sector leaders have cautioned that “time is running out” for hospices across England.
The Liberal Democrats are calling on Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to step in. The party has launched a campaign to help save hospices from the brink - with calls to end the ‘postcode lottery’ of care by allocating funding based on need, and for protected ringfenced funding for children’s hospices. They are also demanding that April’s National Insurance hike, which has cost hospices £34m, be urgently reversed, and for additional support to protect bereavement services.
Helen Morgan MP said: “Hospices such as Hope House provide vital services and support, yet they’re facing a really challenging operating environment. Ultimately, if they can no longer provide those services, it’s families that pay the price.
“The Government must step in now and answer our calls to protect children’s hospice funding, reverse the National Insurance hike that costs hospices £34 million, and make sure funding always matches local need.
“Liberal Democrats are campaigning to save our hospices. No one should face their final days in pain, on a busy hospital ward, or even in isolation because government ministers are asleep at the wheel.”
The party’s Care Spokesperson Alison Bennett will table a Bill in Parliament this week as part of the campaign, to guarantee universal access to hospices and require the Secretary of State to explain the current gap in hospice funding.
