Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the effect of the palliative care currency will be on statutory funding for children’s hospices.

Ben Gummer

NHS England is responsible for the annual grant to children’s hospices and for determining how it will be allocated each year. The palliative care currency is designed to provide a basis for local commissioning discussions, by clearly identifying the costs of care. The currency is being tested by NHS England locally, to ensure it makes sense to commissioners and providers, and the results will be published later in the year. The intention is that there will be an appropriate transition to local commissioning of children’s hospices, but they have pledged to continue the grant until a sustainable alternative means of local funding is in effect.