Sector news and updates

Keep up-to-date with discussions and activity around assisted dying by bookmarking our information page for members.

We have partnered with the Screwfix Foundation to help hospices carry out small capital projects that will directly benefit patients and their families. We are looking to award grants of up to £10,000 per hospice, with a total of £100,000 available.

Any hospice that is a member of Hospice UK can apply for this grant, including NHS Hospices. This covers the whole of the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It includes children’s and adult hospices.

As well as the funding, successful applicants will receive support from Hospice UK throughout the life of your project. We will also help you share learning from your project with other hospices.

There is just over one month left to apply. Find out more about the grants programme and how to apply on our website. Applications close in two weeks, on 13 April 2026 at 17:00. 

Are you a Hospice Medical Director, Deputy Medical Director, or Medical Leader? Join our new national network aiming to provide a forum to build relationships, share learning, and provide a strategic voice for medical leaders into Hospice UK and national advocacy.
 
This Network is being hosted by Hospice UK in response to member requests, with Dr Nick Dando, Deputy CEO and Medical Director at Thames Hospice and and Dr Sam Kyeremateng, Medical Director at St Luke’s Hospice Sheffield kindly agreeing to establish the Network in the first instance.

Carers Week runs from 8 to 14 June, with this year’s focus on building carer‑friendly communities.

Around 5.8 million people in the UK are unpaid carers. That might mean supporting a partner, family member, friend or neighbour who is ill, disabled, or needs extra help as they get older. For some people, caring fits around everyday life. For others, it becomes a constant responsibility.
Many of us will care at some point. Research from Carers UK and the Centre for Care suggests there is a 65% chance of providing care during adulthood.

For health and care employers, this matters. When colleagues take on caring responsibilities, they often need flexibility, understanding and time. Without the right support, many feel forced to leave work, with more than 600 people doing so every day.

Creating carer‑friendly workplaces helps people stay in work, keeps valuable skills in teams, and supports a culture of compassion. During Carers Week, it’s a good moment to reflect on how your organisation supports colleagues who care, and where more could be done.

If you want to explore this further, Hospice UK offers Supporting Carers in the Workplace training. For more information, contact our Compassionate Employers team.

Our next Progressive Neurological Conditions community of practice meeting is on Tuesday 5 May, from 10:00 to 11:30.

We will be hearing from some great speakers:

• Dr Edward Richfield, Consultant in Elderly Medicine at North Bristol NHS Trust
• Paula Brown, Head of Clinical Care and Education at St Marys Hospice

To take part, please sign up to join the Progressive Neurological Conditions community of practice. You will then be sent a meeting invitation.

On Tuesday 24 March, the Health and Social Care Committee published its report into palliative care, following the increased public attention towards palliative and end of life care brought about by the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

The report draws on recommendations from an expert panel commissioned by the Committee, as well as written evidence and oral evidence directly from Minister Stephen Kinnock. It sets out the Committee's conclusions and recommendations for palliative and end of life care.

We have produced a briefing outlining the key points in the report. If you have any thoughts or reflections on the Committee's recommendations, please email our policy team.

Over the last two weeks, NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care have published an array of national health policy and guidance. Please find a short summary and links to each announcement below.  

• Neighbourhood Health Framework, which sets out how the NHS, local authorities and wider partners should work together to deliver neighbourhood health services, as set out in the 10 Year Health Plan. 
• Twenty-seven Neighbourhood Health Centres have been announced for 2027, with 120 in total due to be running by 2030, and 250 open by 2036. These will bring local community services under one roof, including GP and pharmacy services, and, in time, wider services such as debt advice.
• Fit for the future: towards population health delivery models, which provides guidance on how new population health delivery models will support ICBs in becoming more expert strategic commissioners.
• Urgent community care: clinical decision-making framework, designed for local ambulance teams, community, primary care and acute providers, and single points of access. The framework is to support teams in balancing patient, clinical and system risk, to ensure more people can benefit from care out of hospital.
• Doctors’ pay award: DHSC laid out its offer of a 3.5% uplift, along with reform of the pay structure, an increase in starting pay, and up to 4,500 specialist training places over the next three years. Resident doctors have rejected the deal, with industrial action due to take place. You can see the government’s press release here.

If you have any questions, please email our policy team.

The deadline to apply for our fully-funded Level 4 Data Analyst apprenticeship is Monday 13 April 2026. This course is open to hospice professionals in England and is co-delivered with Corndel and Imperial Executive Education, supported by Microsoft.

A 16-month programme, this course is designed for people who work with, use and manipulate data as a fundamental part of their role and who would like to elevate their skills.

Topics covered on this course include machine learning, AI and data science, GDPR and impact reporting. Learners will strengthen their ability to build performance dashboards, apply advanced analytics, and to embed best practices in data security, agility and analytics governance. 

Find out more on our website, and contact Corndel if you would like to apply.

The Welsh Government has announced a £4.3m grant for Welsh hospices, giving them much needed financial certainty for the financial year ahead. The announcement sits alongside the publication of a new national commissioning approach for hospice care in Wales, developed with input from Hospice UK and Hospices Cymru.

This funding is a welcome step amid intense financial pressures on Welsh hospices. However, it is short-term and does not yet offer the sustainable settlement needed to plan with confidence beyond the next year.

We will continue to work with Welsh Government and hospices across Wales to ensure the new commissioning approach delivers clear actions and timelines, and to press for fair, sustainable funding in future Welsh budgets.