Sounding the alarm on end of life care

St Columba’s Hospice Care and Marie Curie Edinburgh are sounding the alarm, warning that essential palliative and end-of-life care services are at serious risk due to funding decisions made by the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and inaction by The Scottish Government.

The HSCP has decided to reverse a 3% inflationary uplift in funding to hospices, which they committed to earlier in the year. This decision was taken in reaction to The Scottish Government announcement of an additional £5 million to help hospices address workforce pressures. That £5 million was solely intended to support hospices with the recruitment and retention of skilled staff during a time of extreme pressure, not to replace existing funding agreements according to the care providers.  

St Columba’s and Marie Curie say that the HSCP decision undermines the purpose of the allocation and places essential palliative and end-of-life services across the Lothians at risk.

To date, St Columba’s Hospice Care has not received its share of the £5 million, which is approximately £496,000. The hospice management say the delay is creating further financial uncertainty and threatening frontline services for patients and families. 

The two care providers call on The Scottish Government and HSCP to: 

• Reinstate the 3% inflationary uplift immediately. 
• Release the national pay parity funding without delay. 
• Commit to a national review of hospice funding to ensure equity and sustainability across Scotland. 

Jackie Stone, CEO, St Columba’s Hospice Care, said: “Hospices are being pushed to make very difficult decisions that may impact on our patients and families. This reversal sends a devastating message to our staff and to the families we care for that fair pay and essential services are negotiable. They are not.  

“The Scottish Government made a public commitment to fair pay and sustainable services, but we are being left with broken promises and growing deficits. We urge the Scottish Government and local partnerships to act now before we are forced to withdraw services that thousands of people across Edinburgh and the Lothians rely on every year.” 

• St Columba’s Hospice Care delivers more than £12 million of care annually across Edinburgh and the Lothians, yet receives only £2.7 million from NHS Lothian. 
• Marie Curie Edinburgh delivers more than £8.6 millionof care, with only £3.1 million in statutory support. 
• There has been no uplift in core hospice funding for two consecutive years, despite rising inflation, pay parity pressures, and increasing demand.