Stuart Palma, Southern Hospice Group: Working together for the future of hospice care
As hospices continue to navigate increasing funding pressures, it’s more important than ever for our sector to unite in highlighting the vital role we play within our communities.
Specialist end‑of‑life care not only eases the growing strain on the NHS, it also ensures that patients are given a choice about where they spend their final days whilst specialist teams provide them with comfort, dignity, and compassionate support.
This week, I welcomed the Chief Executive of Hospice UK, Toby Porter to St Barnabas House. I gave him a tour of the hospice and highlighted that we have been part of the community in West Sussex for over 50 years. During that time, we have cared for tens of thousands of patients and their families, and I’m exceptionally proud that we have been able to care for so many.
In 2024, along with Chestnut Tree House, we formed Southern Hospice Group alongside Martlets in Hove. The merger is allowing us and our other hospices to share our knowledge and provide care in a more sustainable way across Sussex and South East Hampshire.
Ensuring St Barnabas and our other hospices are working together as efficiently as possible is what will help us to continue providing hospice care into the future. I discussed with Toby our merger and subsequent role within the national context of hospice care – a staggering two in five hospices across the UK are cutting services, with nearly two-thirds holding a deficit budget. Although we agree there is hope – the capital funding grant and Modern Service Framework for palliative care are steps in the right direction – there are still issues with funding inequity, with hospices closing and reducing their services across the UK.
Hospice UK supports hundreds of hospices across the UK, and they are well aware that without a long-term government solution to hospice funding there will be a palliative care crisis - the NHS will inevitably carry the burden when it is already overwhelmed, and those patients that are coming to end of life will have less choice about where they die.
As the UKs largest local hospice group, we have an essential role to play, and our work with Hospice UK forms a crucial part of this. We are also engaging with our local MPs to ensure they understand not only the financial challenges facing St Barnabas House and the wider Group, but also those affecting hospices across the country. It’s through working together that we can protect the future of hospice care and ensure our communities have access to the specialist palliative care they deserve.