The charity says hospices already have an impact on reducing costs and pressures on the NHS by helping people in their last weeks of life to avoid unnecessary emergency hospital admissions, and keeping people out of hospital to make sure they have quality care and support at the end of life.

Each year the NHS would need to spend an additional £484m if independent hospices did not exist*. 

Chief Executive of St Helena, Mark Jarman-Howe, said:

“Without better funding support for hospices, there is a very real risk that more people will die in hospital, that more people will attend emergency departments at their most vulnerable, and there will need to be more GP and district nurse home visits; all which would increase costs and staffing pressures for the NHS.”

On a local level, more than 4,500 people are supported by St Helena every year, and nearly 60% of all people who die in north east Essex have some form of support from St Helena before they die.

But for its support of the NHS to continue caring for people outside of a hospital setting, St Helena says a guarantee is needed to at least maintain in real-terms the value of its NHS grant beyond the end of next year. The charity adds that future uplifts to the grant need to be linked to increases in Agenda for Change pay scales to make sure the hospice is an attractive option for clinical staff.

Mr Jarman-Howe continued:

“Around 90% of St Helena’s support is given in people’s homes right across north east Essex. We know that people appreciate the care and support from their local hospice when they're able to access it.  

“There are practical short-term steps for the local health system and St Helena to work together within our current financial constraints to achieve greater stability and keep people at the end of life out of hospital.

“One example is working with the NHS to deliver an ongoing integrated community bed model that funds the flow of end of life care patients discharged from hospital into empty hospice beds, which are released due to our specialist palliative care virtual ward innovation.

“That is a cost-effective win-win to reduce the bed deficit and reliance on hospital corridor care at times of peak demand, like we have seen in hospitals up and down the country recently.

St Helena continues to speak with local MPs about the financial pressures affecting hospices nationally and what will be expected of them to support the Government’s strategic vision for health care. Mr Jarman-Howe said:

“We have been really honest about our financial situation and we have to do the right thing by keeping up the pressure for investment and guarantees. 

“We also need to make sure that what we're doing is affordable so that St Helena secures its future to be here for local people in the long term.”

Securing Our Future

*£484m per annum additional cost to NHS if independent hospices did not exist, source: Modelling demand and costs for palliative care services in England, Sue Ryder/ London Economic report 2021