§ Mrs. BrookeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what Government funding is available nationally for(a) hospices and (b) children's hospices. [2853]
§ Yvette CooperI apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.
It is for the national health service locally to make arrangements for financial support for both adults' and children's hospices, given the extent of local diversity both of the services provided and of alternative sources of local support.
In the NHS Cancer Plan we pledged that the NHS contribution to the costs of specialist palliative care (including hospices) would increase. By 2004 the NHS will invest an additional £50 million. This investment is intended to help tackle inequalities in access to specialist palliative care and enable the NHS to increase their contribution to the cost hospices incur in providing agreed levels of service.
Hospices will also benefit from £70 million allocated by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) to support palliative care projects for adults and children. £22 million has been allocated for adults and £ 48 million for children to support palliative care projects for adults and children suffering from any type of life threatening disease, including services provided by children's hospices.
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