Letter to the Editor from Tŷ Hafan re: Welsh Government funding for hospices in Wales

Dear Editor

I write to you today to thank MSs Jayne Bryant (Newport West), Mark Isherwood (North Wales Region) and John Griffiths (Newport East and Severnside) for their positive contribution to a recent Senedd debate on fair funding for hospices in Wales.

The debate, tabled by Mabon Ap Gwynfor MS Dwyfor Meirionydd, with cross party support, focused on the immense contribution made by hospices across Wales to our society. Members called for a fair funding solution to ensure hospices’ vital work, providing end-of-life care to over 20,000 adults and children in Wales every year, is able to continue.

Speakers including Jayne Bryant, Mark Isherwood and John Griffiths called on the Welsh Government to “commit to working with the sector to address the immediate funding challenges” and to “develop a long-term sustainable funding solution in partnership with the sector, including a new national funding formula, a workforce plan, and palliative and end-of-life care service specification.”

Tŷ Hafan Children’s Hospice is one of only two children’s hospices in Wales. Currently Tŷ Hafan still receives less than 12% of its funding from the Welsh Government. This is despite the pandemic, followed by the cost of living crisis, having hit the sector hard, resulting in spiraling costs, an increasingly challenging environment in which to fundraise, and a diminishing workforce base.

On behalf of the hundreds of children with life-shortening conditions and their families who Tŷ Hafan supports, I would like to thank Jayne, Mark and John for their continued and valued support for a sustainable funding solution for Wales’ children’s hospices, and, indeed all hospice provision throughout our country.

We also acknowledge also the contribution made by Health Minister Eluned Morgan to this debate. We look forward to a constructive update on the end-of-life care funding review from her very soon.

Kind regards

Jason Foster, CEO (Interim), Tŷ Hafan Children’s Hospice