§ Mr. McMasterTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the development of the hospice movement in Scotland: what plans he has to encourage this development; and what criteria he applies to the award of financial assistance to individual hospices.
§ Mr. Allan StewartThe 13 voluntary hospices in Scotland have benefited over the past three years from the Government's scheme under which at least 50 per cent. of their running costs have been met by health hoards. This initiative, which runs until the end of the current financial year, was designed as a transitional measure to enable the hospices and health boards to work together to construct a sound basis for contractual relationships and future development. Its effectiveness and possible future arrangements arc now being assessed by the Scottish Office home and health department. Views have been sought from each voluntary hospice and each health board with a hospice in its area. We shall make known the outcome of this assessment when it has been completed.
The main criteria which a hospice must satisfy in order to be eligible for assistance under the initiative are:
—the hospice must be recognised as a charity by the Inland Revenue;—services must he provided to meet the needs of terminally ill patients (and their families) when those needs can no longer be met by curative treatments;—medical, nursing and paramedical stall' should be employed, who are skilled in the provision of palliative medicine for cancer patients, and for others who require such expert care for a span of time; and—no charge should he made to patients or their families.