What consideration has the Welsh Government given to increasing service level agreements in hospice care to a minimum of 5 years to provide greater stability and foster innovation?
Welsh Government recognises the important contribution that hospices make to palliative end of life care in Wales and is committed to finding a long-term sustainable funding solution.
We have delivered our Programme for Government commitment to review hospice funding, securing an additional £2.2m per annum on a recurrent basis from April 2022.
In March 2024, we provided 12 health board commissioned hospices with a £4m cost-of-living grant to support delivery of their vital services. This was agreed in conjunction with Hospices Cymru and the National Programme Board for Palliative and End-of-Life Care. And we have allocated an additional recurrent £3m to hospices in the Draft Budget 2025-26.
Work is underway with the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee, the National Programme Board for Palliative and End-of-Life Care and Welsh hospices to develop a hospice commissioning framework/guidance for Wales. This will look at the length of service level agreements, Agenda for Change issues and address variation to ensure sustainable, effective and value service provision.
Phase one of this work is scheduled to be completed by April 2025.