Written question WQ86486
- Asked by
- Heledd FychanPlaid
- To be answered by
- Minister for Health and Social Services
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 7 days
Question
Will the Minister provide an update on the second phase of the hospice funding review, and provide assurances that additional money will be made available in this term to fund the outcome of the review, given the gravity of the situation facing hospices?
Answer
Answered by Minister for Health and Social Services
The end-of-life care funding review is a Programme for Government commitment led by the NHS Collaborative and the Palliative and End of Life Care Programme Board.
Phase one, a review of voluntary sector hospice funding, was completed in December 2021 and resulted in the Welsh Government making an additional £2.2m available to Welsh hospices from 2022-23 on a recurrent basis.
Dr Idris Baker, the national clinical lead for end-of-life care, is leading on phase 2 of the funding review. This originally intended to consider models of provision, any geographical variation and to develop an understanding of the value delivered by hospice services.
However, whilst some focus in phase 2 has been given to these areas, it has become evident that more time is needed to consider these areas in more detail and a final phase 3 is required to develop a palliative and end-of-life care offer for Wales. This will enable work on paediatric prevalence, outcomes, value-based healthcare and collaboration with Public Health Wales to inform the final offer.
The pandemic has highlighted a pressing need to address out-of-hours, community palliative and end-of-life care provision. Phase 2 work is now centred on these important areas.
Interim recommendations are expected in November with the final report due in January 2023. The final phase 3 report is expected to be completed by January 2024 with an interim report available by October 2023.
The outcome of the phase 2 review will feed into the budget process.