Hospice care sector needs proper funding - Miles Briggs
Another week, another announcement by the SNP government setting out its plans for an independence referendum.
In terms of ‘reading the room’, it is fair to say that John Swinney is just like his nationalist predecessors and would prefer to indulge in fantasy rather than face the reality of nearly 18 years of SNP Government.
That reality, I’m afraid, is ever bleaker and nowhere is this more apparent than the crisis facing Scotland’s care sector and health services.
Over a number of years, I have lobbied SNP Ministers to bring forward a sustainable funding model for the hospice sector in Scotland.
St Columba’s Hospice Care and Marie Curie Edinburgh, both organisations I have worked with, have warned that essential palliative care and end-of-life care services are now at serious risk due to poor funding decisions made by the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership, as well as inaction by the Scottish Government.
The Scottish Government had announced the provision of an additional £5 million to help address pressures in the workforce – something I called for over the last few years.
This funding was designed to support hospices with the recruiting of skilled staff. Concerningly the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership - having seen this additional funding – have chosen to reverse a £3m inflationary uplift in funding to local hospices, having previously committed to it.
The result of this is that essential palliative and end-of-life services across Lothian are now at risk and to date St Columba’s Hospice has yet to receive any share of the £5 million. This has created yet more financial insecurity for our local and national hospices.
I have written to the chief officer of the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership and have raised my concerns with the First Minister and SNP Ministers, last week asking for the inflationary rise in funding to be reinstated as a matter of urgency. I am very disappointed that neither the Partnership nor SNP Government have acted to date.
St Columba’s Hospice Care delivers over £12 million of care annually across Edinburgh and the Lothians yet receives only £2.7 million from NHS Lothian.
Similarly, Marie Curie Edinburgh delivers over £8.6 million of care, with only £3.1 million in statutory support.
These numbers are entirely unsustainable and this chronic underfunding is leading charities to subsidise essential NHS services through public donations, which is impossible to maintain.
The founding principle of our NHS, of care from cradle to grave, has underpinned the social fabric of our country and society for more than 76 years.
However, what is often not recognised is the reality that palliative and end-of-life care is provided predominantly by the charitable sector, either in a hospice or in a hospice-at-home setting, with no currently existing legal right to palliative care.
Hospices are an integral part of the healthcare system in Scotland and must be treated with the respect they deserve. Sustainable and equitable funding must be delivered to ensure that our most vulnerable people are being looked after at their hour of need.
Sadly the decisions undertaken so far have been more akin to penalising than supporting these hospices and it is taking its toll.
It’s time for a new sustainable funding model for the hospice sector in Scotland and time for SNP Ministers and Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership to act so that vital palliative and end-of-life care services are not put in jeopardy.