Hansard

Absolutely. All of us have probably been invited to visit our local hospices and have seen not only the amazing work that they do at the most difficult time but the roots that they have in our communities.

I very much welcomed the work that the Government undertook with Children’s Hospices Across Scotland in the previous session of Parliament. I lobbied ministers to bring the parity in funding for children’s and adult hospices that we, as a country, expected to have. I very much welcomed the agreement that they signed to provide about £30 million over a five-year period—which has now come to an end—to fund services for children with life-limiting conditions and the support services that their families need. I am sorry to say that, in reality, that has not been delivered. Indeed, the Government agreement to provide 50 per cent of costs amounted to only about 30 per cent of funding.

Adult services in Scotland are in a more difficult position today, with the average hospice receiving about 25 per cent of costs for the provision of statutory services. We need things to change. One of the issues—I know that this has been raised in previous debates—is that the integration of health and social care and the creation of integration joint boards have led to a postcode lottery when it comes to funding our hospice sector. That urgently needs to change, too.

I very much welcome the constructive meetings that I have had to date with the minister on the issues. It is really important that they are taking place on a cross-party basis. However, there needs to be—as has been raised by other members—real action. First, we need to put hospices on an even keel to address the deficits that they face. As has been mentioned, the NHS agenda for change pay settlements have placed an additional £16 million cost on the hospice sector. The sector needs urgent support to ensure that it can retain staff. We do not want a staffing crisis to be the next problem that the sector faces.

As Stuart McMillan outlined, it is critical that we have an equal partnership and a new funding framework. I think that all of us here will agree on that, but of importance is how the Government makes that a reality in order to deliver a minimum of 50 per cent of the costs of delivering core hospice services. I believe that arrangements used to be set out via a chief executive’s letter, but the sector is crying out for a framework. I hope that the minister can take that on board as the key ask from the debate.

We must have a dynamic funding mechanism to support future needs. We know from all the briefings what that will look like. Our NHS will not be able to meet that demand, so our hospice sector has to be ready to do so.

The founding principle of our NHS was to provide a health service from the cradle to the grave. Without the hospice sector, we will not have that. For people who access palliative care and their families, that would be not only a tragedy but completely unacceptable. We know that many hospices are already using their reserves to fund core services. That is not sustainable.

I hope that the minister will take from today’s debate the pressing need for a new deal for our hospice sector. Cross-party support exists for that, and we can work together to ensure that we deliver for people when they really need it.