More than 120 senior MPs from across the political spectrum have backed urgent calls for new hospice funding after fresh evidence showed one in five hospice beds in England has closed, leaving patients stuck in overstretched NHS hospitals.
The growing cross-party alliance, which includes Reform leader Nigel Farage, Conservative peer Sir Graham Brady, and Labour heavyweight John McDonnell MP, warns hospice funding has failed to keep pace with inflation, and many services have still not recovered from the pandemic.
Campaigners warn that when hospice capacity shrinks, patients who should be receiving end-of-life care elsewhere remain in acute NHS beds, driving up costs and delaying discharges.
Pressure intensified last week after ministers admitted they do not even count how many hospice beds are in use.
In a written Parliamentary answer on January 20, Health Minister Stephen Kinnock, said: “As hospices are independent, charitable organisations, the Department and NHS England do not collect data on the level of utilisation of hospices.”
The MP for Aberafan Maesteg added that while hospices play a “vital part” in supporting people at the end of life and “alleviating pressure on NHS services”, the Government was “not in a position to offer any additional funding beyond that outlined above”, citing a “challenging fiscal position across the board”.
MPs say the admission is extraordinary given mounting evidence hospice beds are being shut because services cannot afford the staff and day-to-day running costs needed to keep them open, forcing more patients to remain in hospital.
The intervention follows research showing almost one in five hospice beds have closed over recent years.
More than 120 MPs have demanded an emergency cash injection
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The analysis by Oxford scientists Carl Heneghan and Tom Jefferson, published via their Trust the Evidence Substack, warns without additional funding, up to 40 per cent of hospices could reduce patient care in the coming months, including more than half of children’s hospices.
This would leave over 12,000 terminally ill patients unable to access end-of-life care.
The researchers stress the closures are being driven by financial pressure rather than falling demand.
Despite delivering care that would otherwise be provided by the NHS, hospices receive on average less than 36 per cent of their funding from Government or NHS sources, the analysis shows, relying instead on donations, fundraising events and charity shops to cover the rest.
The researchers from Oxford University’s Centre of Evidence Based Medicine, describe the situation as a “national scandal”.
They warn shortages in end-of-life care mean increasing numbers of frail and elderly patients are dying “in pain, alone, often hungry and dehydrated,” while others are being admitted to hospital in emergency situations, adding pressure to already stretched NHS services.
According to the analysis, hospice and palliative care costs around £1.8billion a year across the UK, covering staff wages, medicines, utilities, buildings and community services.
It found that nearly two-thirds of independent hospices are operating at a loss, while one in five faces deficits of more than £1million.
The researchers stress hospice closures are being driven by financial pressure rather than falling demand
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Senior figures backing the campaign to save hospices also include former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, former Business Secretary Andrew Griffith, and senior Tory peer Graham Brady.
With ministers ruling out new funding, MPs are urging the Treasury to use Financial Conduct Authority bank fines, already paid into Government coffers, to stabilise hospice care without raising taxes.
Lord Graham Brady said: “It is deeply concerning that services are now being forced to close beds while substantial sums continue to be raised through FCA bank fines… Allocating a proportion of those fines to support day-to-day hospice care would be a responsible and humane step that commands wide public support.”
Former Labour Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, added: “Using a proportion of the fines the FCA imposes would have a major impact on securing the future of the wonderful and much-needed services our hospices provide.”
Nigel Farage said: “Hospices are in very big trouble, closing beds and turning families away because they simply haven’t got the money to keep the services going – and this is just not acceptable in a civilised country.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Hospices do incredible work to support people and families when they need it most and are facing incredibly tough pressures.
“This Government has made the biggest investment in hospices in a generation – £125million – to improve hospice facilities, freeing other funding for patient care, and has also committed £80million for children’s and young people’s hospices over three years.
“We will soon set out our plans to modernise and improve the palliative and end of life care sector, in which hospices play a vital role.”