155 MPs attend Hospice Care Week event in Parliament
16 October 2025
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On 15 October, Hospice UK hosted a pop-up event in Parliament for Hospice Care Week, to shine a light on the incredible work hospices do every day, and the urgent need for fair, sustainable funding to support them.
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155 MPs stepped into the living room of someone receiving hospice care at home, hearing directly from hospice staff, policy experts, and families whose lives have been touched by hospice care.
The experience offered MPs a powerful insight into what hospice care really means, helping people live well until the very end, in the place they love most: their own home.
Across the UK, hospices care for people in hospitals, in their communities, and in their homes, supporting not just patients but their families too. From managing pain and symptoms to helping people enjoy the things that make life meaningful, hospice care is about much more than many people realise.
But right now, these vital services are under threat. Many hospices are being forced to make cuts just as demand is rising. With the right support, they could do so much more.
Surging costs have led to many services being cut back, and this is getting worse with 2 in 5 hospices across the UK planning to make cuts. This is happening at a time when demand for hospice care is rising fast as people live for longer with more complex conditions.
The majority of hospice care is funded by charity – from marathon runs to charity shop sales. In England, on average, the NHS only funds around 40% of the care that a hospice provides. Hospices have a vital role to play in delivering the Government’s ambition to move care, closer to home, as outlined in their Ten Year Health Plan.
Hospices are rooted in their local communities – providing support not only within their own walls, but in the homes of those who need them the most. But they cannot support this ambition, or meet the growing demand for care, without support.
That’s why this year’s Hospice Care Week theme Hospice care is more than you think celebrates all the ways hospice staff and volunteers make life better for people at the end of life, and calls for proper funding to secure the future of hospice care across the UK.
