11 June 2012
Care Services Minister, Paul Burrows has announced hospices are set to benefit from up to £60 million funding to help improve the quality of care for people nearin the end of their lives.
Designed to help improve care for families as well as patients by enhancing the hospice environment and care provided in peoples homes, the fund is open to all adult and Children’s hospices in England.
Burrows said, “We are making this investment because we want hospices to be able to provide dignified, compassionate, high quality care and support to people and their families at what is a difficult time in their lives.”
David Praill, Chief Executive of Help the Hospices, welcome the announcement saying, “In these challenging times, investment in hospices is vital so they can modernise and expand in order to meet the growing needs of the communities they serve. Developing physical hospice environments as well as outreach services to support people at home will mean that that people nearing the end of life can have greater choice over where and how they are cared for, allowing them greater dignity and more independence.”
Hospices will be able to apply for funding for a range of projects, including:
- Developing or improving out-reach services to support people in their own homes.
- Refurbishment of inpatient and visitor areas, including improvements to bedrooms and bathrooms and providing overnight facilities for families.
- Improvements to day-therapy facilities, including providing transport services.
- Improvements to gardens and outside spaces so patients can spend time outdoors.
- Improvements to mortuary and bereavement facilities.
Details on how and when hospices can apply for the capital grant scheme will be announced shortly.
A total of 123 grants were awarded to 116 hospices through the 2010/11 capital grants scheme.
