One hundred million pounds of government spending on hospices will help "places like Garden House … create the best environment to deliver care," the Prime Minister has said.

Chris Hinchliff, Labour MP for North East Hertfordshire, asked Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions yesterday (Wednesday, November 12) to consider "broader reform to put hospice funding on a sustainable footing".

Mr Hinchliff said that Garden House Hospice, which provides palliative care and support to patients and their families in North Hertfordshire and Stevenage, faces a "serious funding gap".

The hospice said in September that it faced a £750,000 funding gap this year, with an expected £1.1 million shortfall next year. According to the Comet, more than 20 redundancies are expected to be made at the hospice.

Mr Hinchliff said: "During the assisted dying debates, I and many others highlighted the importance of palliative care provided by hospices, but this vital work has been left reliant on donations and charity for far too long.

"I welcome government investment in hospices, but will the Prime Minister consider broader reform to put hospice funding on a sustainable footing, and can he ensure ministers meet with me to explore every option to keep Garden House Hospice open?"

The Prime Minister responded: "I'm pleased to tell him that £100 million has now been passed to Hospice UK so places like Garden House in his constituency can create the best environment to deliver care.

"That's backed … by £26 million investment for children and young people's hospices.

"We're also investing over £3 million in researching palliative and end-of-life care through the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

"We're working on further proposals to improve the access, quality and sustainability of care, and I'll make sure that ministers keep him updated."

The £100 million investment from the government in hospices across the country was announced in December last year, providing funding for 2024/25 and 2025/26. 

Garden House receives 29% of its total funding from the NHS, with the remaining 71% paid for through donations. 

Lisa Hunt, the charity's CEO, recently said that hospices across the UK have been warning of a funding crisis for years and that "the silence from national decision-makers is deafening".