Hospices

[Icanthinkformyselfthanks]

I really don’t know where I would have been without the support of our local hospice as I cared for my dad in my home as he died from cancer. That they are now under threat because of the increase in national insurance is deeply disturbing to me.
A minister has said she cannot promise hospices are going to be OK after Rachel Reeves launched a national insurance raid that will affect thousands of charities.
Karin Smyth, a health minister, was asked during an interview on Sky News’s Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge if she could give any reassurances over the future of hospices but she replied: “I can’t promise.”
Hospices, care homes, GPs, and care agencies are all affected and each will in turn affect those in society who are most vulnerable. Every time the Government has been questioned on this they appear unmovable. Is this tax on the sick and elderly one you would want and expect from a Labour government?

Hospices are largely funded by public donations, they (appallingly) receive very little publicity funding. However I dread to think what it might do to them.

This NI increase is poorly thought out and will have a huge, negative impact to so many small businesses, charities and state funded organisations (eg schools, hospitals).

My family has also had extensive support from a hospice this year, at home & in hospice for the final week, fo a close family member. Without that support that time would have been so different & difficult; we will be always grateful to them.

It’s not only a Labour specific thing, the vast majority of hospices and palliative care get most (usually 2/3’s) of their funding from charitable donations….hence austerity over the past x years has meant huge issues. Considering the assisted dying bill is in all the news, the fact that we don’t have nhs fully funded hospice and palliative care services is a disgrace and something that people should be more aware of.

@Oopsalala , I agree but surely heaping this extra burden on them is not acceptable?

@Icanthinkformyselfthanks nothing about the NHS, education and housing is acceptable at the moment, there has and always will be an utter postcode lottery for NHS and hospice/palliative care services. The government has to raise money somehow but it has the choice of then making funding decisions to support specific services…. having worked in hospice and palliative care I can’t say that any one government of any political party has been overly helpful but I know full well that conservative governments have never made a positive impact on anything healthcare related. Cancer care ,diagnostics and outcomes are diabolical compared to equivalent European countries.

I am too late to vote in the Poll - I would have voted YANBU if I had seen this thread in time.

Please could I encourage everyone to take a look at the Mumsnet Petitions Board as it is not permitted to post direct links to petitions anywhere else on Mumsnet:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/petitions_noticeboard/5222665-exempt-hospices-from-increase-in-employers-national-insurance-petition-parliament