Hospice UK is today warning that there are now 380 beds out of use in hospices across England, up by over 25% since last year when it was revealed that 300 beds were out of use in English hospices.
The data comes as Hospice UK has warned of 2 in 5 hospices planning to make cuts this year. The number of beds that have either been fully de-registered, or taken out of operation during the year, accounts for nearly 140,000 days and nights of care unavailable. Furthermore, this year’s data shows that 160 of these beds are permanently closed. Fairer funding for hospices will help reinstate some capacity, but that would come too late for 160 beds permanently lost from the system, which account for around 58,000 days and nights of care unavailable.
Toby Porter, CEO of Hospice UK says: “The financial situation facing hospices is untenable, with even more beds out of use this year than last year. We know many hospices have waiting lists and demand for end of life care is rising, so it’s not a case of lack of demand. Hospices desperately want to reach everyone who needs them, but financial pressure is holding them back.”
Hospices in England provide care for 270,000 people each year, in inpatient units, and in people’s homes. The number of beds closed does not account for further pressures in hospices' community services, where most care is delivered. Hospice UK recently revealed that specialist community visits have fallen by over 150,000 in the last year. Combined with the number of closed beds, hospices are prevented from reaching everyone who needs their care, both in the community and in the hospice building.
The holistic care they provide includes highly specialist palliative and end of life care. Hospices also support tens of thousands of families and loved ones each year, including with bereavement support.
With the need for end of life care projected to rise by 25% by 2048, the demand for hospice services will only increase, yet insufficient funding is holding hospices back from reaching everyone who needs them. The potential introduction of assisted dying is also contributing to the urgent need to secure the future of the hospice sector. Well-funded end of life care will be an essential safeguard if assisted dying is legalised.
Earlier this year, the Government laid out their Ten Year Health Plan for England, which set out a vision of a neighbourhood health service in which people with long-term illness, including those approaching end of life, are looked after primarily at home, or in health centres close to them.
The plan identified hospices are part of this shift to move care into the community. Hospices are expertly placed to do this, but right when they should be expanding their services, they’re shrinking.
Porter continues: “We need an urgent overhaul of how hospices are funded so they can support the Government’s plans to shift care into the community, and make sure that no one misses out on vital end of life care. We want to see full funding of specialist palliative care provided by hospices, so no hospice has to keep beds closed because they can’t afford to staff them. With assisted dying potentially on the horizon, well-funded end of life care will be a vital safeguard, the time to fix hospice funding is now.”
Sharon Allen, Chief Executive of Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridgeshire says: “Insufficient government funding has just seen us forced to cut inpatient beds from 21 to 12, a truly devastating decision that means over 200 people a year will no longer have the option of being cared for in the comfort of our hospice. Instead, they will sadly be dying in a busy hospital without the level of privacy for lasting memories, nor the expertise and outstanding care provided by our experienced, compassionate palliative care nurses. This is the exact opposite of the vision the Government has set out in the Ten Year Plan, but unless hospice funding is fixed urgently, more hospices will have to make difficult decisions that have a distressing and lasting impact on dying people and their families.”
Currently, hospice funding is inconsistent and does not bear relation to local need. Hospice UK is campaigning for fair hospice funding, with a four-point plan to secure sustainable funding for the sector.
Alongside full funding of specialist services, the plan includes proper NHS contracts for hospices, funding to cover the cost of NHS pay rises for hospice staff, and national accountability for equitable provision of palliative care, wherever you live.
These changes would stem the wave of cutbacks to hospice services we have seen in the past two years.
They would open up significantly more community palliative care capacity to underpin the government’s vision for neighbourhood based care – allowing hospices to better meet the growing needs of our ageing population.
And they would help guarantee, as a critical safeguard in a future assisted dying service, that good quality palliative care was available for all who need it.
