Twenty hospices across Wales will receive enhanced allocations

She said children's hospices would receive a 50% rise and those caring for terminally ill adults an extra 30%.

Hospices in Wales have complained that their government funding is lower than elsewhere in the UK.

Ms Hart also said a new planning group would consider what palliative care services should be funded by the NHS.

She warned "organisations which cannot demonstrate that they meet the quality requirements will not receive NHS funding".

The statement followed a review describing the services as "patchy".

Ms Hart told AMs: "Altogether 20 different hospices, throughout the length and breadth of Wales, will receive enhanced allocations, as a result of the decisions I am announcing today."

I am concerned that there is no commitment to match the English target of 50% core funding Shadow health minister Jonathan Morgan

Ms Hart said Welsh Consumer Council Chair Viv Sugar would lead the Wales Palliative Care Planning Group to "define the scope of core palliative care services".

She said the committee would also identify a way of measuring the quality of care.

Shadow Health Minister Jonathan Morgan welcomed the funding increase but said Wales was still lagging behind England.

"I am concerned that there is no commitment to match the English target of 50% core funding," he said.

Before the funding announcement, hospices said they feared they would still struggle to cope with rising costs.

Alun Davies, chief executive of St David's Hospice in Llandudno, said his annual budget for clinical services was about �1.3m a year.

Of that, the hospice currently gets approximately 10% from Conwy Local Health Board - around �130,000 - but the rest comes from fundraising and donations.

He said he believed the hospice would be given "a larger, substantial amount of money" if it were situated in England.

David Featherstone, chief executive of Ty Gobaith children's hospice in Conwy and Hope House, just over the border in Oswestry, has experience of how funds are allocated in England and Wales.

"The situation in England changed radically a couple of years ago when the Department of Health recognised that local health authorities couldn't really afford to give money for such a small operation and they gave a central grant of �300,000 to Hope House, which means that 25% of the costs of English children are now met by the NHS," he said.

Although mum died a year ago they're still in touch and there's services of thanksgiving and there's support groups - they look after not just the person but the whole situation Meinir Jones, praising St Kentigans hospice

"In Wales, the figure is 4.5%. We receive the grand total of �45,000 as a contribution towards the �1.5m we spend on looking after Welsh children."

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, Professor of Palliative Care at the University of Wales, said: "The reality is that devolution has meant the funding of the NHS is different.

"It [the funding announcement] is a great opportunity for the minister to make sure that actually she comes up with a solution that matches the Welsh situation."

Meinir Jones, whose mother, who had cancer and received help at St Kentigans hospice before she died, said: "I just feel it's awful there's that pressure on the staff and the trustees to raise all these funds to do such good work.

"Although mum died a year ago they're still in touch and there's services of thanksgiving and there's support groups - they look after not just the person but the whole situation."