Mr Patsy McGlone (Mid Ulster): To ask the Minister of Health to detail (i) any steps he is taking to ensure adequate funding for hospices to support the continued delivery of high-quality palliative care; and (ii) how this funding will be sustained to meet the growing demand for such services.
Minister of Health: The majority of palliative and end of life care is delivered by generalist health care professionals, including the patient’s GP, District Nurse and other healthcare professionals in hospitals and care homes.
Hospices and Trusts play an important role in supporting individuals, and families with more complex physical, psychological and social needs which require specialist intervention.
I recognise that the current funding arrangements for adult hospice services have been in place for some time, to date, it has not been possible to progress a planned regional review of adult specialist care services given the ongoing and challenging financial pressures facing my Department.
My Department officials have ongoing engagement with the hospice sector as part of the arrangements in place with them for the delivery of contracted specialist palliative care services.
In 2024/25, £9.73million was provided to hospices for contracted adult services which included an uplift of 5.09% to support increases in National Living Wage, non-pay inflationary pressures and other pay increases.
For 2025/26, an interim uplift to contracts of 2.98% has already been advised to hospices and this will be updated when possible in respect of any 2025/26 pay award.
Given the complexities of palliative and end of life service provision, my officials are beginning a baseline scoping exercise to establish the totality of palliative care services (both generalist and specialist) which are currently available across the system. This exercise will include how services align to the populations they serve and a needs assessment to consider the increasing palliative and end of life care needs across Northern Ireland.
The outcome will inform decisions about the future planning and commissioning of adult palliative care services across the region, including specialist palliative care services provided by hospices.
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