Voices from across the North East have joined in calling for more help from the UK government to avert a looming crisis that could lead to the region's hospices reducing services or closing their doors to families in need.
City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy has written to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt asking him to use the Spring budget, due on 15 March, to provide more targeted help for hospices.
She says that at the end of their current energy contract in March, St Cuthbert's Hospice in Durham is facing an increase in its annual energy bills of £85,902.
Read more: North East MPs pen joint letter to save region's hospices
Meanwhile, Teesside Hospice in Middlesbrough launched a fundraising campaign last week as rising costs and falling donations due to the cost of living crisis have left them with a £450,000 deficit that needs to be filled if they are to maintain the services they provide at their current levels.
A nessage on the hospice website read: "With spiralling costs set to continue, we know we need a long-term solution,.
"[We] are tirelessly campaigning for the government to pay a fairer price for our care but this will take time."
David Smith, CEO of both Teesside Hospice and St Teresa's Hospice, in Darlington, told The Northern Echo about the dangers facing hospices across the country.
He said: “Local hospices have survived for decades through the generosity and support of local communities but rising costs and inflation are putting many essential healthcare services at risk.
"With some of us now standing on the cliff edge we urgently need government to look again at how it and the NHS is supporting hospices to maintain essential services both in the immediate crisis and longer term."
He explained the knock-on effect on the wider health service if hospices are forced to reduce service or even close their doors
"If hospice services close the need will still remain, and without our nurses, doctors and facilities the pressure on already-stretched hospitals, A&E departments, ambulance services and GPs will increase enormously," he said.
"Warm words won’t get us through this crisis. We need speedy action and firm commitments."
Hospice UK is a charity that works to support all hospices across the country, ensuring that end of life care providers have the skills and expertise needed to help more than 300,000 dying people and their families each year.
Katie Reader, policy and advocacy manager at Hospice UK, also called on the Chancellor to provide direct support for the sector.
She said: “Many hospices are struggling to pay the rising costs of energy, food and staff and worry about the future of their services.
"The Spring statement must include financial support for hospices, to safeguard the vital role they play in supporting patients' families and the wider health and care system.”
In her letter to the Chancellor, Mary Kelly Foy emphasises why help is specifically needed by hospices.
"Hospices will be eligible for the same level of reduced support as a pub or restaurant," she said.
"Despite the fact hospices rely solely on community fundraising for their services and cannot pass on costs to customers."
This letter follows an open letter that was sent by all Tees Valley MPs from across the political spectrum last month to raise awareness of the perilous position many hospices find themselves in, calling on the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) to commission hospices - something which they are now legally obliged to do - to provide end of life care for people in order to relieve pressure on the NHS.
Read more: 'Help us before it's too late' - plea from North East hospices fearing for future
Darlington MP Peter Gibson, who co-chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hospice And End of Life Care, has been at the instrumental in co-ordinating bi-partisan efforts from MPs in the area who are usually at loggerheads on most other issues.
"As a Hospice trustee of ten-plus years, and the co-chair of the Hospice APPG in Parliament, I have long championed the need for greater support for our hospices," he said.
"Just this week I launched in Parliament our APPG Report which calls for lessons to be learned from the pandemic and for better support for our hospices.
“I have been leading Tees Valley MPs on behalf of our local hospices to get the proper commissioning from our local NHS ICB who now have a statutory obligation to commission palliative care.”
Last week's parliamentary report on hospice care focused on standards of palliative care provided during the Covid-19 pandemic, and showed that despite challenges high standards were maintaned thanks to the resiliance of those in the sector along with increased collaboration.
The report recommended funding for services that are needed in the community, improved support and training for palliative care staff, continuing the innovative work showed during the pandemic by securing funding, and to help people recover from the impacts of the pandemic by encouraging more open conversations on the subject of death and dying through better bereavement support.
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