Torbay's hospice services described as 'postcode lottery'

MPs have called for an end

MPs have called for an end to the ‘postcode lottery’ around hospice services, highlighting Torquay’s Rowcroft Hospice as an outstanding example of quality care.

Speaking during a parliamentary debate at Westminster Hall, Torbay’s Conservative MP Kevin Foster told fellow MPs that his mother and step-daughter had both benefited from hospice care before they died.

But, he said, the amount of financial support given by the government to hospices varied from one end of the country to the other.

“There can be a postcode lottery,” he said. “The variations are quite significant.

“I accept that some areas may have different types of services and some may have a greater ability to fundraise, but we should certainly seek a level of consistency across the country, to ensure that people have access to that service when they need it.”

Mr Foster opened the debate by praising Rowcroft and Children’s Hospice South West at Fremington in North Devon. He said hospice services provided vital support but faced challenges themselves.

Almost every hospice in the country is budgeting for a deficit, he said, and there are strong variations in government funding they receive region by region.

This money is the balance between NHS funding, contract funding and the fundraising income. In London the government supplies almost half of hospice funds while in the south-west it supplies a quarter.

Mr Foster said that Rowcroft faces a 30 per cent increase in staff costs and a 52 per cent increase in utility bills, while NHS funding for contracts had only increased by eight per cent in five years.

The hospice expects the demand on its services to grow from 2,500 patients a year to more than 3,500 by 2040.

Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall (Con) also called for improvements to government funding, and said the south west is “leading the charge” for high-quality hospice care and supporting people most in need.