This funding is a welcome step forward for palliative care in England and should help ease the burden of care shouldered by carers

Baroness Pitkeathley, New Opportunities Fund

Community palliative care teams for children with receive �15.3m, with �32.7m going towards home-based respite services and centres as well as bereavement services for families.

One hundred Primary Care Trusts, which purchase care for local areas, are being invited to apply for the �22m for adult services.

Adult palliative care will be extended so terminally-ill patients can access a wider range of home-based, out-of-hours and respite services.

Areas which have poor access to palliative care services in the community and high levels of deprivation will be specifically targeted.

Organisations can apply to the NOF for funding.

The NOF has also allocated �79m for equipment to combat coronary heart disease, stroke and cancer and �52m to help boost consumption of fruit and vegetables.

Announcements for funding for palliative care in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland will be made in summer.

Support for families

Baroness Pitkeathley, chair of the New Opportunities Fund, announced details of the initiative at Richard House, the first-ever children's hospice for London.

She said: "This funding is a welcome step forward for palliative care in England and should help ease the burden of care shouldered by carers.

It is outrageous that it is necessary for Lottery money to be used to fund palliative care services, rather than funded through central government

Gill Oliver, Macmillan Cancer Relief

"We will work closely with the hospice movement and others working in palliative care to help focus the money on improving the quality of life for those facing cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, as well as providing family support."

Caring organisations welcomed the funding but expressed regret it came from the Lottery, rather than the government.

Gill Oliver, of Macmillan Cancer Relief welcomed the targeting of the funding for areas of greatest need, but added: "We feel it is outrageous that it is necessary for Lottery money to be used to fund palliative care services, rather than funded through central government."

Peter Tebbit, palliative care development advisor for the National Council for Hospice and Palliative Care Services, told BBC News Online he welcomed the fact the money was available for services for adults with all conditions, rather than being targeted at cancer sufferers as previous NOF funding was.

Devastation

He added: "The disappointment of this NOF funding is that it's short-term. Most people in palliative care work in the voluntary sector and would like a pot of money from the NHS."

But he said they were used to welcoming money from any source that was available.

Mr Tebbit added that the �22m for adult services, around �7m for each of the three years of the project, made up about 2% of the �300m spent annually on adult palliative care services.

Janet Dacombe of The Compassionate Friends organisation, which offers support for families who have suffered the loss of a child welcomed the funding for bereavement counselling.

She said: "Families are just devastated. A lot of people who come to The Compassionate Friends do need counselling, because that's a very important support."