'They play a vital part in our healthcare system, but this care is at risk'
Hospices throughout Greater Manchester are in urgent need of extra funding, leaders have urged MPs.
Since 2020, operators have seen their total costs increase by a third, with most of this cost having to be met by fundraising from the local community.
Now, the Greater Manchester Hospices Provider Collaborative, made up of adult and children's hospices, is requesting MPs sign a joint letter to the Minister of State for Health and Social Care, calling for the government's new 10-year health plan to include commitments to improving palliative and end of life care, and reforming the hospice funding model.
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More than 10,000 patients, and their loved ones, are cared for by hospices in Greater Manchester each year.
In the UK £11.7bn is spent on healthcare for people in the last years of their life, but 80 percent of that funding is spent in hospitals - while hospices are allocated around four per cent.
An additional hospice 57 bed spaces are needed in Greater Manchester to meet the current needs of the community according to the Health Innovation Manchester Report. Yet in 2043 there are expected to be 5,000 (21 per cent) more deaths and 3,500 (17.5 per cent) more deaths requiring palliative care each year in Greater Manchester than in 2019.
Leigh Vallance, Chief Executive of Bolton Hospice and Chair of GM Hospices Provider Collaborative, said: 'Hospices play a vital part in our healthcare system, but this care is at risk. Increasing demand, long term underinvestment and rising costs, mean many hospices are struggling to maintain their services. This, in turn, places more demands on the NHS.
'The new 10-year health plan provides an opportunity to put this right. Currently £11.7bn is spent on health care for people in the last year of life in the UK, but 80% of that funding is spent in hospitals. We believe this money could be better used by investing in hospice care, which currently only receives 4% of this funding.
'We know from experience that hospice care reduces hospital admissions, speeds up hospital discharges, keeps care in the community and makes it more likely that people can die in the place of their choosing. This is better for the patient, better for their loved ones and better for the NHS.'
In Greater Manchester, hospices rely on their local communities to raise two thirds of their total funding. Demands on hospice services are only set to increase and the current funding model means they need to ask more and more of their communities every year - at a time when the cost of living is at an all time high.
The Government has made a commitment to invest £100m in additional capital spend in hospices over the next two years, which has been welcomed by Greater Manchester's hospices, but only offers a short term solution. Long term reform is needed to protect hospice services.
Today's parliamentary event has been sponsored by Josh Simons MP, Member of Parliament for Makerfield.
The GM Hospices Provider Collaborative is a partnership of Greater Manchester's adult and children's hospices, working together to deliver "high-quality, accessible and sustainable specialist palliative care for all who need it."
Hospices attending the event in Westminster today were Bolton Hospice, Bury Hospice, Derian House Children's Hospice, Dr Kershaw's Hospice, Springhill Hospice, St Ann's Hospice, Wigan & Leigh Hospice, Willow Wood Hospice.
Almost half of deaths in Greater Manchester are in hospitals. Only three percent of people have a preference to die in hospital (Office for National Statistics Voices Survey). In Greater Manchester, one third of people will have more than three admissions to hospital in the last year of life.
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