Mirror columnist Paul Routledge says MPs should prioritise the extra £60million needed to fund end-of-life care rather than debating Assisted Dying, and calls on Rachel Reeves to heed the cry for help from those who help us reach a decent end
It is a stain on the conscience of the nation.
Carers for the terminally ill now rely more on selling second hand jeans and blouses than funding from the NHS.
That’s a glowing testament to the generosity of the shopping public, but a shocking indictment of the government’s funding priorities.
UK hospices, which every year look after 300,000 seriously and terminally ill patients, including thousands of children, are in financial crisis.
One in five are either cutting services or are planning to do so, despite rising demand for palliative and end-of-life care.
The money they get from the NHS covers only a third of their costs. The rest comes from donations, wills and other voluntary sources – and a chain of 3,000 independent charity shops on our high streets.
For the first time, this sale of second-hand clothes now brings in more than their annual income from the health service. And it’s not enough.
Hospice chiefs calculate volunteer shop-workers would have to sell 43,000 blouses to fully fund a bed for one year, or 5,000 pairs of jeans for a nurse.
What’s more, it’s harder to raise income from somebody’s cast-off jeans or shoes in deprived areas where the care needs are the greatest.
During Hospice Care Week, charity chiefs are calling on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to close an estimated £60million spending gap in finances.
In the context of an NHS budget of £192billion a year, this is chicken feed, but it requires political will to set aside the cash in a difficult economic climate.
Hospice UK took a charity shop to Westminster yesterday to argue their case for better funding. To my mind, it is consummate irony that MPs are being asked to prioritise end-of-life care while Parliament is debating an Assisted Dying – more accurately, Suicide – Bill.
Speaking as a member of the generation closer to the need for a hospice bed than most of these puppy-dog politicians, I challenge Chancellor Rachel Reeves to put funding before policy. Heed the cry for help from those who help us reach a decent end.
The Middle-East war in numbers:
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1,177 Israelis murdered October 7, 2023 by Hamas terrorists
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251 hostages taken into Gaza, 101 still captive
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42,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, killed in the Israel war on Gaza.
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2 million driven from their homes, 60% of properties destroyed or damaged.
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94% of World Food Programme aid blockaded.
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180 Missiles launched by Iran against Israel
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2,000 dead in Israeli attack on Lebanon, including 440 presumed Hezbollah fighters
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1.2 million Lebanese forced by bombing to flee, half into Syria
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500-plus Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank with more than 8,000 jailed.
*Figures from various official sources.
Further comment would be superfluous.
