HEALTH secretary Alan Milburn reaffirmed his commitment to boosting hospices' funding yesterday.

At last year's Labour Party conference, the Darlington MP announced an extra £50m for hospices, by 2004.

Yesterday, in the Commons, he repeated his pledge that NHS cash would match fundraising within four years.

The money for hospices is part of a £570m package for cancer care and treatment, up to 2004.

Replying to a question from Labour backbencher David Chaytor, Mr Milburn said: "It is very, very important that across the piece, from preventative, through treatment, all the way to palliative care, we're investing."

He also said regional centres of excellence would ensure that the best possible treatment was available to the maximum number of people.

After the initial announcement of money, the chief executive of the Butterwick Hospice in Stockton, Graham Leggatt-Chidgey, said: "This money will be of enormous benefit to the hospice movement and to the patients and their families, especially in children's hospices, where the funding has been minimal.

"It will make a colossal difference. At Butterwick Children's Hospice, we are not fully operational because of a lack of funds, but this money would mean we were able to maximise the facilities we have here.

"It would mean something like half-a-million pounds a year for us."