General Debate on Hospice and Palliative Care

Health policy is devolved. This information applies to England. Information on hospice and palliative care in the rest of the UK can be found in sections three and four of the debate pack.

What is hospice and palliative care?

There are varying definitions of palliative care. The World Health Organisation defines it as an approach to improve the quality of life of patients and their families who are facing challenges associated with life-limiting illness, usually progressive. Palliative care can prevent and relieve suffering through identifying, assessing and treating pain and other problems whether physical, social or spiritual.

The 2022 briefing on Palliative and End of Life Care by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology explains that most people living with a life-limiting illness will require some form of palliative care.

The role of hospices

Hospices are generally charitable organisations. They form part of palliative care in England and work with NHS palliative care teams. The services that hospices provide can vary depending on the individual hospice. Services can include:

• pain and symptom control and psychological, social and spiritual support
• care in the community, supporting people to die at home where this is their wish
• rehabilitation
• financial advice
• support for family members, including bereavement support

A government press release on investment into hospices published in December 2024 says there are around 170 adult hospices and around 40 children and young people’s hospices in England, with some hospices providing care to both.

Funding and delivery

Section 21 of the Health and Care Act 2022 introduced a statutory requirement for integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to commission services to provide palliative care (alongside other healthcare services) to meet the needs of their local population. ICBs receive a general funding allocation from NHS England to deliver these services.

Hospices receive a mixture of charitable funding and some statutory funding for providing NHS services.

This Library debate pack published in October 2024 contains further details on funding for children’s hospices.

Delivering palliative care services

NHS England has published statutory guidance for ICBs on palliative and end of life care. This guidance points to two existing frameworks to guide palliative care delivery:

• Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care: A national framework for local action 2021-2026.
• The NHS England Palliative and End of Life Care National Delivery Plan 2022-2025 (PDF).

Government activity December 2024 funding announcement

In December 2024, the government announced new investment into hospices. This includes £100 capital investment to improve buildings, equipment, accommodation and digital upgrades. A further £26 million revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices will be provided in 2025/26.

Commission on palliative care

At the start of December 2024, it was announced in the press that Rachael Maskell MP would lead a commission on palliative care to help improve end-of-life care.

An article by the charity Together for Short Lives says the following regarding the aim of the commission:

By bringing together voices from across the sector, the Commission aims to develop actionable solutions to ensure every child and family can access the care and support they need, no matter where they live.

An article in the Guardian in December 2024 suggested the commission is backed by more than 20 health and social care organisations and will take evidence on failures and improvements to end-of-life care. It also said Lord Darzi (who led the government commissioned independent investigation of the NHS in summer 2024) will sit on the commission. The article said the commission will start taking evidence in January.

Stakeholder commentary

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Hospice and End of Life Care published a report on Government funding for hospices (pdf) in January 2024.

There has been various stakeholder commentary around the accessibility of palliative care. See the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology’s report on palliative and end of life care.

Further reading

• Hospices: State funding, House of Lords Library, 21 October 2024
• Motion on hospice funding, House of Commons Library, 11 April 2024
• Support for hospice services debate, House of Commons Library, 9 June 2023
• Palliative and end of life care, POST, 27 July 2022