Help the Hospices is calling for a government review

Help the Hospices is calling for a government review into the "urgent situation" which, it says, is due to rises in staff pay and care costs.

Most hospices rely on fundraising for the majority of their income. The amount the NHS provides can vary greatly from 25% to 60%, it says.

A Department of Health spokesman said the NHS spent �97.8m on adult hospices in 2004, an increase of 50% since 2000.

Help the Hospices chief executive David Praill said hospices represented "tremendously good value for the government".

While many hospices are succeeding... the bottom 25% are becoming increasingly concerned about their ability to break even in future David Praill Help the Hospices

"For every �1 of NHS funding to English hospices, the hospices themselves contribute a further �4," he said.

"Around �1 of this comes from the value of the work carried out by volunteers. The rest is sourced from fundraising activities."

The amount of charitable funding now had to be "increased even further to cover the unmet need for hospice services", he said.

"While many hospices are succeeding in this, the bottom 25% are becoming increasingly concerned about their ability to break even in future.

"This is an urgent situation," he added.

Fundraising events

Help the Hospices said that, while the actual amount of NHS funding had risen over the last eight years, it had slipped from 35% of expenditure in 1997 to 33% in 2005.

The charity, which looks after England's 139 hospices, said there were significant regional variations in state contributions.

It said that, while one hospice received more than 60% of running costs from the NHS in 2005, almost a third received less than 25%.

We acknowledge the valuable contribution the voluntary sector makes to the provision of palliative care services Department of Health

And it said that, while income generated in the hospice sector had risen by 31% in the past four years, pressure to expand the range of services on offer and rising medical staff costs meant some were struggling to cope.

"We need more money, and we need a consistent and fair, nationwide approach to funding provision," Mr Praill added.

The Department of Health spokesman said "We acknowledge the valuable contribution the voluntary sector makes to the provision of palliative care services.

"Information kindly provided by Help the Hospices shows that NHS funding for adult hospices in 2004 was �97.8m, an increase of about 50% since 2000.

"NHS funding for adult hospices averaged 34% of expenditure."

The charity's call for a government review coincides with the launch of its Tea At 3 series of fundraising tea party events.

Up to 6,000 will take place throughout the UK and members of the public are invited to organise their own.

Meanwhile, a �27m funding package to help children with terminal illnesses was announced by Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt on Monday.