§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what estimate he has made as to the additional costs for hospices arising from extra regulations his Department has introduced for palliative care; [159042]
(2) if he will make a statement on the reluctance of public bodies to fund the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice; [159041]
(3) if he will estimate the savings to health and social services budgets arising from the service provided by the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice; [159041]
(4) what is the level of public funding for the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice as a percentage of its revenue costs; [159040]
(5) what funding is available to hospices from his Department; and what guidelines he has issued concerning the percentage of revenue costs that should be met by local health authorities. [159039]
§ Yvette CooperIt is for the National Health Service locally to make arrangements for financial support for hospices, given the extent of local diversity both of the services provided and of alternative sources of local support. Accordingly, we have issued no guidance specifying a set percentage of hospice revenue costs that individual health authorities and primary care groups should meet.
We are, however, committed to increased investment in palliative care services overall. The NHS Cancer Plan set out one commitment to increase NHS investment in specialist palliative care by £50 million by 2004, to end inequalities in access to care and enable the NHS to make a realistic contribution to the cost hospices incur in providing agreed levels of service. As a first step, the NHS Plan Implementation Programme for 2001–02 requires all cancer networks, in partnership with voluntary organisations, to develop and begin implementing costed strategic plans for palliative care. This is the context within which the NHS contribution to individual hospices such as the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice will be considered.