What we do

Our mission is to promote and protect hospice care for all who need it, for now and forever. 

As the national champion for hospices, we fight to make sure hospice care is there for everyone, from every background. We fight to make sure hospices are able to deliver the best, most personalised care. We fight to make sure hospices can thrive – today and into the future. 

We represent the community of more than 200 hospices across the UK. They do everything they can for children and adults living with long-term illness, or approaching the end of their lives. So we do everything we can to support hospices’ incredible, invaluable work. 

Right now, the UK’s hospices care for about 300,000 people each year. That number is going to get even bigger in the coming years. 

But hospices are underfunded, undervalued and under more pressure than ever. 
 

"Hospice UK's strategy reflects our own priorities as an organisation. It's a courageous statement of what needs to change in end of life care in the UK. We look forward to working ever closer together as a hospice community."

~ Kate Heaps, CEO of Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice

Every year, our hospices care for 300,000 people living with life-limiting conditions or facing the end of their life. They provide bereavement, counselling and practical support to 60,000 of those dear to them. 

By 2040, around 130,000 more people will die each year in the UK than today. More children with complex needs are surviving beyond infancy and into young adulthood, and medical and social complexity is increasing with age.

Hospices provide care which is free at the point of use. But, unlike in the NHS, it is not fully state funded. While hospices receive some government funding, more than £1 billion of the £1.6 billion they need each year comes from generous donors.

The cost of providing hospice services is going up, while ever more people need palliative care. The financial situation for hospices is likely to deteriorate even further, and it is local communities who will pick up the cost.

Already, we know that some groups and communities are missing out on hospice care and there is a pressing need to do more to reach them.

A severe national shortfall of staff for adult and especially children’s services also presents additional challenges for many hospices.

By working collaboratively with hospices and other partners, our aim with our five-year strategy is to secure hospice care for all who need it.

More people are dying in the UK. After decades of a stable, slightly declining death rate, demographic trends mean that the annual number of deaths - currently approximately 650,000 - is steadily increasing. It will reach 780,000 in 2040.

• Our ageing population means that more and more people are living with complex, long-term conditions such as frailty and dementia, which require specialist management. 
• Medical advances mean that more children are being born and living longer with life-limiting conditions. 
• There is greater demand for services such as counselling and bereavement care, as the importance of these interventions is increasingly understood. 
• There is growth in demand for hospice care services to be delivered in different locations including hospices, homes, hospitals, care homes, and virtually. 
• There is pressing need to reach currently underserved communities and people who are missing out. 
• There is greater demand being created by pressures on other health and care services, which threatens to leave hospices to fill the gaps.

To find out more about our strategy and our plans for the next five years, read our full strategy document.