Protect our hospices

That this House celebrates hospices for providing essential, life changing care to hundreds of thousands of people across the country; notes that hospices receive just one third of their funding from the NHS and that a hit to charitable income can have a material impact on frontline services; regrets that 300 hospice inpatient beds are currently out of use due to lack of funding and staffing; further regrets that the Government’s hike in National Insurance contributions costs hospices £34 million per year; further regrets that hospices endured a real terms decline in funding under the last government; expresses alarm that 40% of hospices are set to make cuts this year; believes that the current model of hospice provision is broken; further believes that a Cinderella service, with provision rationed according to the means of the community, is unacceptable in the 21st century; calls for an end to the postcode lottery of hospice care and funding to be allocated according to need, with ringfenced funding for children’s hospices and annual uplifts to at least £30 million by the end of the Parliament; further calls for hospices to be immediately exempted from rises in National Insurance in April 2026; calls for a dedicated hospice workforce plan to end vacancies; and affirms that high quality end of life care should be a right not a privilege, and that no one should die in avoidable isolation, stress or discomfort.