LOROS Hospice Joins National Call for Fairer Funding at Westminster

Staff from Leicestershire’s LOROS Hospice are in Westminster today as part of a national Day of Action.

The charity’s chief executive and a nurse will join representatives from more than 20 hospices to hand-deliver a letter to the Prime Minister, calling for fairer funding for specialist palliative care.

It comes as hospices across the country face growing financial pressures, with many running deficits and being forced to cut services.

LOROS says it has already reduced a number of services due to funding pressures. While some beds have since reopened, seven of its 31 beds remain out of use, alongside reductions to day hospice services, physiotherapy and counselling support.

Chief executive Camilla Barrow said last year the hospice faced a £2 million deficit, forcing cuts to patient care.

She said: “The brutal reality of these cuts is that people are waiting longer for our care. People at the end of their lives do not have time to wait.”

She added: “We could be doing so much more. Instead we’re doing less and our colleagues in the NHS are put under more pressure whilst patients are dying in settings often inappropriate to their needs.”

Camilla Barrow said hospice care is “essential, specialist palliative care” and added: “Funding it fairly is vital. I hope the Prime Minister is listening.”