Meet the Need Appeal Update – hospice funding in the news

You may have seen the national issue of hospice funding in recent news – in particular the need for fairer and greater government funding for the country’s charitable hospice sector, which is currently facing a £77m deficit nationally.

The hospice funding debate

The issue was debated by MPs on 22 April, who considered the postcode lottery of funding for hospices, and called on integrated care boards to urgently address the funding for hospice-provided palliative care in their areas. A full report can be accessed here.

The urgent need for a new funding model for hospices remains – the cost of not supporting them would be devastating for patients, their families, hospice staff, local communities and the NHS itself.

Dorothy House’s Meet the Need Appeal

Currently Dorothy House only receives 20% of funding from the NHS. Our Meet the Need appeal was launched to help bridge this gap. To put it into context, for every £1 we receive in government funding we need to raise a further £4 to cover the costs of delivering care. As the need for palliative and end of life care in our community continues to rise, so does the cost of providing that care.

We are incredibly grateful for the response we have had for this appeal so far, with the current total now standing at over £38,000. That is an amazing amount of care funded for patients and families in our local community.

The reality is however, that whilst we are doing all that we can to meet the need, currently not everyone in our community is guaranteed to receive the specialist end of life care they deserve. We know that we still need to do more, and with your help we can ensure that more people in our community receive the quality care they deserve.