Tory leader Kemi Badenoch speaks with patients and staff on visit to hospice
Michelle Kabia, interim chief executive of Farleigh Hospice in Chelmsford, Essex, said during a roundtable discussion on Friday that the 'NI cost absolutely has an impact'.
'Even just to stand still, we need to find £250,000 of additional money,' she said.
Mrs Badenoch asked 'just for here?', and when told that it was, she replied 'extraordinary'.
Ms Kabia said there was a 'value in having reliance on not just one stream of income'.
'We have a lot of independence to do innovative, groundbreaking work as an independent charity organisation,' she said.
'I don't think we're ever thinking we would be fully-funded 100% from the NHS.'
Mrs Badenoch spoke with patients about how the hospice helps them and with healthcare staff about the emotional toll.
In a conversation with a group of staff, she described how she lost her father three years ago.
'He had a brain tumour diagnosis and within three months he was gone,' she said.
'The surgeon basically said no-one he's seen with this has ever lived another year and so that just gave me a clock which I didn't know when the alarm would go.
'It is very confusing.
'It's something you never want to think about and then suddenly having to manage that is a big challenge.
'End-of-life care is something we don't talk about.'
Speaking to broadcasters outside the hospice after the visit, Mrs Badenoch said staff were 'very interested in the legislation going through parliament about assisted dying, but they're also concerned about the impact that the jobs tax is having on them'.
'They have a £250,000 increase in national insurance to pay to the Treasury,' Mrs Badenoch said.
'It's putting a real strain on their budget.
'Hospices do a really phenomenal job looking after people especially when it comes to end-of-life care.
'They need more resources, not less.'
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