We must ensure that children’s hospices are adequately funded

ACCORDING to Ty Hafan and Ty Gobaith, there are an estimated 3,600 children in Wales living with a life-limiting condition.

Up to 800 of these children have ongoing palliative care needs which require contact with hospital services and only around half access respite at children’s hospices due to limited funds.

People all over Wales are familiar with the fantastic work carried out by Ty Hafan in the south and Ty Gobaith in the north. What many people do not realise is how little public funding these incredible children’s hospices in Wales currently get.

As things stand, these hospices receive less than 10% of their funding from the state. These hospices and their incredible staff have been able to do the work they do, offering much-needed comfort to ill children and their families, largely due to the generosity of people and businesses in Wales who raise money or offer services for free.

Elsewhere in the UK, children’s hospices are not so reliant on their fundraising efforts to deliver what is an essential service.

Children’s hospices in Scotland receive half their funding from the state, in Northern Ireland it is 25% and in England it is 21%. The Republic of Ireland recently announced it would fund 30% of running costs for their children’s hospices.

The difference in funding levels means that Ty Hafan and Ty Gobaith and are not able to do as much as they would like for the children in their care and their families.

If children’s hospices in Wales were to be funded by government to the same level as hospices in Scotland for example, then they could support each family with an additional seven nights of respite a year.

This was something I raised directly with the Labour Health Minister during questions in the Senedd earlier this month. I asked her directly to commit to increasing state funding for Wales’ two children’s hospices in the long term, and to meeting with representatives of both hospices to ensure views are considered in the upcoming funding review for hospices.

During the answers provided to me and to other Members of the Senedd asking follow-up questions, there was a clear admission from the Health Minister that her government needed “to do better” on paediatric palliative care and that a review of the current arrangements would be published in the autumn.

I am hopeful that this review will lead to our children’s hospices being placed on a firmer footing. We all know that the charity sector has suffered immensely during the various coronavirus lockdowns. For much of the past 18 months, charity shops have been closed, fundraising events have been cancelled and household incomes have come under greater pressure meaning people generally have less cash to donate to charity. All charities – including Ty Hafan and Ty Gobaith – have suffered during this period.

Children’s hospice care has to be built on firmer financial ground than is currently the case. This has been recognised in other countries within the UK and it is time for the Labour Government in Wales to step up and ensure that our hospices are adequately funded.

This much-needed financial security has been dubbed a lifeline fund because it is exactly that to the families that need hospice care. I will be watching the Labour government closely over the coming months to ensure they do what’s right for the hospices of Wales and the seriously ill children that need them.

Peredur Owen Griffiths is Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales East region