Yesterday, we campaigned at Westminster with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children Who Need Palliative Care for the UK Government to maintain the £25 million Children’s Hospice Grant in England. This morning, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting told BBC Radio 4:
“We’ll make an announcement on the hospice grant before Christmas because I recognise that people need to be able to make decisions about the next financial year, but the hospice grant will continue. I am looking carefully at the pressures in the sector.”
Reacting to the news, Nick Carroll, Interim Chief Executive of Together for Short Lives said:
“This is a huge campaign win. I would like to thank the Secretary of State for listening, and for everyone who has been part of our movement to get to this point.
“But our campaign is not over. We will keep pressing until ministers confirm that the grant will be centrally-distributed by NHS England and not through local NHS bodies – and that it will increase to reflect the rising costs children’s hospices are facing.
“Ministers must also reimburse children’s hospices for the significant additional costs they facing as a result of the rise in employer National Insurance contributions.
Please join us and add your voice by writing to your MP about this now.
Nick Carroll, Interim Chief Executive of Together for Short Lives
