§ Mr. McNamara:To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how much money the NHS is spending in 2003–04 on hospice provision for (a) children and (b) adults; [141890]
(2) how many places in hospices are specifically designated for children. [141892]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson:Information on national health service expenditure on hospice provision is not held centrally.
Children's hospices are funded from general NHS funding. As with adult hospices, this is a matter for local discussion and agreement. In addition, a central budget of £50 million per annum has been set up to meet the commitment in the NHS Cancer Plan to increase NHS 770W funding for specialist palliative care, including hospices, by £50 million by 2004. The central budget is for all specialist palliative care services, including voluntary hospices. The level of funding for hospices, both from local allocation from the additional £50 million and from local resources, is a matter for local discussion and agreement.
Children's hospices have also received support from within the New Opportunities Fund, which is funding over 130 projects in England, with £48 million over three years, in support of initiatives for children with life threatening illnesses.
Information on the number of places in hospices designated for children is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. McNamara:To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total current bed capacity is in hospices. [141891]
§ Miss Melanie Johnson:There are approximately 2,043 specialist palliative care beds in the voluntary sector and 480 beds in the national health service in England (January 2003). This statistical information relating to the number of NHS/voluntary beds has been taken from Hospice Information, an independent organisation who are a resource for hospice and palliative care services.