As GB News reveals the challenges facing hospices after Rachel Reeves’s maiden Budget, viewers have been invited to support care givers.
Hospices across the country raised alarm bells almost immediately after the Chancellor made her major financial statement in late-October.
Find your local hospice HERE – support your care givers crippled by Labour’s Budget changes
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Care provided by hospices is free to use, but unlike the NHS, they only receive a third of their funding from the Government, relying on charity contributions for the rest.
HospiceUK had already said that 2023-24 “was by a distance the worst financial year we have ever seen for the hospice sector”.
The industry body also estimated that the sector was heading for a deficit in the region of £60million this year – mostly driven by increased staffing costs.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting last month revealed that hospices would receive financial help to cope with the looming crisis.
Streeting said he would change the Government’s grant to “make sure we’re protecting our hospices” – with further details being announced before Christmas.
The Liberal Democrats called for Streeting to “urgently clarify” what measures he was planning.
Lib Dems health spokesman Helen Morgan said: “Many hospices are already on the brink and this tax hike risks pushing them over the edge.
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“The simplest thing would be for the Government to listen to hospices and exempt them from this tax rise.”
The Department of Health & Social Care said in a statement: “We are working to make sure everyone has access to high-quality end of life care.
“The choices the Chancellor made in the budget allowed us to invest another £26billion in the NHS.”
HospiceUK represents more than 200 hospices across the UK, with around 300,000 people receiving care each year.
