'Stop asking hospices to pay for essential medication' - South Ribble MP launches 'St Catherine's Law'
“I believe that our hospices should be focused on caring for patients and supporting families, not worrying about how vital medicines will be paid for.”
South Ribble’s MP is launching a new ‘St Catherine’s Law’, aimed at making sure that essential hospice medication for people receiving end-of-life or palliative care is paid for by Intergrated Care Boards (ICBs).
MP Paul Foster has spoken in Parliament, claiming that some hospices are instead being forced to use charitable funding to pay for medicines that the NHS is supposed to cover.
Name-checking St Catherine’s Hospice in Lostock Hall and Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley, he said: “Mr Speaker, ICB’s have a statutory obligation to fully fund all essential medicines and pharmacy provision for the delivery of specialist end of life and palliative care that our wonderful hospices such as St Catherine’s and Derian House situated in our respective constituencies of South Ribble and Chorley, however this is not happening as ICB’s are claiming the cost is covered by the hospice’s core grant.”
In response to Mr Foster’s call to place a legal obligation on every ICB to fully fund essential medicines and pharmacy provision, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Can I thank him for raising this and as he knows, Intergrated Care Boards are responsible for commissioning all palliative care and end of life services including hospices to meet the needs of their area and that includes decisions on how services are funded including medicines and pharmacy provision. I’m happy to talk to him further about it.”
Later Mr Foster issued a statement saying: “I believe that our hospices should be focused on caring for patients and supporting families, not worrying about how vital medicines will be paid for.
“That’s exactly why I raised the issue with the Prime Minister today at PMQs today. Hospices like St Catherine’s Hospice and Derian House Children’s Hospice provide incredible care for people at the most difficult times in their lives. Yet some Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) are forcing essential medicines and pharmacy costs to come out of hospices' existing NHS grants.
“This means that our charitable donations are helping to plug gaps that should not exist in the first place.That’s why I asked the Prime Minister to support my Private Member’s Bill, St Catherine’s Law, which would place a clear legal obligation on every ICB to fully fund essential medicines and pharmacy provision for hospices, separately from any core NHS funding they receive.”
The move has been applauded by Hospice UK. They said: “Thank you Paul Foster MP for highlighting in Parliament yet another financial pressure the hospice sector is experiencing.
“With many hospices under immense financial strain, finding additional money for essential medicines and pharmacy provision, which should be funded by ICBs, is yet another thing to worry about.
“Hospices deserve to focus on delivering essential care without the burden of financial uncertainty. That's why we're campaigning for fair funding for hospices because they cannot be left to plug the ever-widening funding gap themselves.”
St Catherine’s Hospice
Chief Executive, Lynn Kelly, said: “We welcome Paul’s work to highlight the long-standing issue of funding for medicines in hospices.
"There have been national inequities in the system for many decades, which the proposed St Catherine’s Law seeks to address. Medicines are an essential part of patient care and, wherever end of life care is delivered—whether in hospital, at home, or in a hospice— it should be funded by the NHS rather than relying on charitable donations."
NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Intergrated Care Board has been contacted for comment.