Thousands back 'urgent' calls over warning hospices will shut if £25m black hole not solved

Nearly 5,000 members of the public have written to their MSPs urging them to push for greater support ahead of next month’s Scottish Budget, increasing pressure on ministers to find a solution.

The Scottish Hospice Leadership Group (SHLG) said the unprecedented demand for action underlined the gravity of the £25 million funding black hole that hospices are facing, with the pressures intensified by the increase in employers’ National Insurance, and the cost of matching NHS pay awards.

The public show of support - spurred by an online tool set up by Hospices UK, which allowed people to send emails to their local elected representatives - comes as 33 MSPs from across various parties added their signatures to an open letter from Scottish Conservative MSP Miles Briggs, urging the Scottish Government to provide critical funding for hospices.

Jacki Smart, chair of the SHLG, and chief executive of Accord Hospice in Paisley, Renfrewshire, said: “We have received tremendous support from every part of the country. People know the value of hospice care and they are determined to do what they can to help us.

“We are only asking that the Scottish Government equally values the contribution which hospices make to our society. We simply cannot continue to provide our compassionate care, free of charge to all those who need it without state support. Our statutory funding has remained static, or in some cases, reduced, meaning we have to rely on the kindness and generosity of the public to fund the majority of our services.

“This is not sustainable. We call on the Scottish Government to urgently address our funding gap this year, support pay parity with the NHS and to also move towards a fair and sustainable funding model for all hospices across Scotland. It is only with this commitment from the Scottish Government that our hospices will survive.”

Ms Smart said the group had not made the call “lightly” and it recognised the “fear and uncertainty” felt amongst hospice patients, their families, and the public.

The number of people needing palliative care in Scotland is predicted to increase by more than 17 per cent in the next 25 years and the care they need will be more complex, adding to the pressure on an already overstretched NHS. The cost to health and social care services of caring for people in the last year of life is huge, with unscheduled care alone already costing the NHS in Scotland nearly £190m a year.

Ms Smart said: “If urgent action is not taken, then hospices will be in the impossible position of having to reduce much-needed services for people at the end of their lives.”

Amy Dalrymple, associate director of policy and public affairs at Marie Curie Scotland, also warned the financial situation was impacting on care.

“Our research shows too many people in Scotland are not receiving the timely access to end-of-life care services they so desperately need,” she said. “Because of a lack of government funding, there remains a postcode lottery of how services are delivered. Our health services need to be funded from cradle to grave.”