North East and North Cumbria hospices received most government funding in 7 years, an investigation has revealed

Over the past year or so, the funding crisis facing hospices in the UK has been the subject of much attention in parliament and the media. However, an investigation has revealed that over the past seven (financial) years, funding given by the government to hospices in the North East and North Cumbria region has increased. In fact, hospices received the highest amount of funding in 2024/25. So, if government funding is at a high, why are hospices at an all-time low and what, is the impact of this?

“When the NHS don’t give hospices enough money to cover their operating costs, then the burden, the pain of those operating costs immediately passes to the members of the communities that they serve”, says Mike Thornicroft, CEO of Teesside Hospice.  

As someone who has first-hand experience of hospice care due to losing my mam at St Cuthbert’s Hospice in Durham when I was 13, it has been beyond heartbreaking to see hospices across the country suffer at the hands of a catastrophic funding crisis. 

On January 22nd, 2025, it was particularly hard seeing the very place that cared for my mam and our family in our time of need announce the tragic news that 18 members of staff had been made redundant, whilst other services had either been halved or closed.  

Outraged by this and curious to find out more, I sent a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) to the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB), asking how much funding was given to hospices in the North East of England from 2019 to 2024.  

The response I received showed that from 2018/19 to 2024/25, funding paid by the NENC ICB and predecessor Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to hospices in the North East and North Cumbria region has, in general, increased, with hospices receiving £16,931,920 in 2024/25- the highest amount, as shown below.  

 

(Note: As the ICB was established on July 1st 2022, the figures prior to this date relate to the eight predecessor CCGs across the North East and North Cumbria region.) 

So, if NHS funding has increased, then why are hospices, like St Cuthbert’s, facing a crisis and why, even after the government’s £100 million investment into the sector, do they still face the same problems? I spoke to the CEO of Teesside Hospice, Mike Thornicroft and chief executive of Butterwick Hospice, Edward Gorringe, about these issues.  

In January 2024, a report by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Hospice and End of Life Care revealed that the way hospice services are commissioned in England was “not fit for purpose”, therefore, “at risk”.  

As the year went on, it became increasingly and alarmingly clear that hospices across the UK were in a very unstable position. In April 2024, the charity, Hospice UK announced that the sector was facing a collective estimated deficit of £77 million in 2023/24- the worst it had been for 20 years. 

Then, in July 2024, these issues came to a head as Hospice UK issued an urgent warning due to the financial stability of hospices reaching a critical point, leaving 20% of hospices  threatened by cuts.  

Middlesbrough’s Teesside Hospice and Stockton’s Butterwick Hospice were fortunate enough not to be faced with quite the same extreme, tangible risks to services and jobs, such as the likes of St Cuthbert’s was. However, they still faced and continue to face a crisis- despite the increase in funding from the NENC ICB.  

One of the main reasons for this is something that all of us in the UK have felt the effects of.  Explaining the reason for this increase, a spokesperson for the NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board said: “The year-on-year funding increase to hospices is to account for national inflation.” 

Teesside Hospice have certainly felt the effects of inflation as at the end of this year, they are predicted to have around a £400,000 deficit and are budgeting the same for next year as well. Explaining how inflation has impacted Teesside, Mr Thornifcroft said: “Every year we’ve had a funding increase, but if you compare how much those increases have been in comparison to the consumer price index, you will see that they are significantly below that level. So, every year, we’re getting a small increase, but our costs are going up much, much more.” 

He also highlighted the effects of the cost-of-living crisis, emphasising that this places an increasing reliance on fundraising activities- which “just isn’t sustainable”.  

“You can’t keep asking your community to subsidise the NHS on an ongoing basis to an ever-increasing amount, there is a limit to how much the community can pay and obviously, the cost of living crisis hit everybody, not just hospices, so there was less money from our community to fund us as well”, he added.  

Moreover, Mr Thornicroft pointed out that the increases in the employer national insurance rate and national minimum wage which were announced last autumn, have added another quarter of a million pounds onto the Hospice’s salary bill for this year.  

Despite these difficulties, due to strong reserves, Teesside are currently able to accommodate the deficit without having to make any redundancies or service closures. Mr Thornicroft also expressed his gratitude for legacies, which, over the last few years, have provided Teesside with an average of around £4-500,000 a year.  

However, he expressed the instability of this as the Hospice don’t know when people have left them money in their will or when this money will arrive. As a result, they are unable to budget accordingly. He said: “Whilst that money from legacies is incredibly helpful and valuable, especially when it’s significant sums, it’s unpredictable.” 

Similarly, he went on to highlight the instability of reserves, emphasising the need for more money from the NHS. He commented: “I think we’re in a good position with our reserves so we can be assured that over the coming years, we will still be okay, providing we don’t get any unexpected, significant costs. But we do need more money from the NHS because we can’t continue to rely on our reserves because they will run out at some point”. 

Like Teesside, Butterwick Hospice are also predicting a deficit for 2025/26 and share the same position with regards to government funding. According to Mr Gorringe, the NENC ICB “substantially increased” their baseline funding in 2024/25 and 2025/26. 

He said: “This recognised that our historical funding had been very low and without the increase services would have been cut substantially.” However, like Mr Thornicroft, he elaborated that funding doesn’t match neither the inflation rate, nor increases in national insurance and minimum wage.  

He said: “While we appreciate the pressure facing ICB funding, this level of funding is still insufficient to cover our costs.” 

In December 2024, the government announced their “biggest investment into hospices in a generation”, which consisted of £100 million for adult and children’s hospices and a further £26 million for children and young people’s hospices. On 26 February 2025, the first portion of this was released as hospices across England received £25 million for upgrades and refurbishments.  

Out of this money, the North East received £573,421, which was divided among seven hospices. Teesside Hospice received £74,899, whilst Butterwick Hospice received £60,656.  

When I asked him about this investment, Mr Thornicroft said that in the long run, it will help to cut costs by allowing the Hospice to buy items such as solar panels and double-glazed windows, which will help to keep heating and electricity bills down.  

However, he went on to say: “But that money that’s come from the government is just a one-off and it won’t help us pay our salary bill, which is up around 90% of our costs.” He added: “The government funding is welcome, but what we really need to see is a long-term commitment to increasing the money to hospices on an annual basis and a confirmation that we are going to have long-term contracts with our NHS commissioners.” 

Saying this, Mr Thornicroft highlighted Teesside and Butterwick’s slightly more fortunate position, as they are two of the four hospices in the Tees Valley area to receive a 3-year contract from commissioners. In other words, they have guaranteed funding from the NHS for 3 years, helping them to plan their finances accordingly, though, this is still not enough to achieve a zero budget.  

Echoing Mr Thornicroft, Mr Gorringe expressed the long-term benefit of the government funding for Butterwick, pointing out that access to renewable energy, for example, will improve efficiency. 

However, he also voiced the same problems.  

He said: “The government scheme, while welcome, is restricted to spend on capital items and therefore of little direct impact on day-to-day pressures.” He went on to say: “it is split across a lot of hospices, over two years, and is limited to capital spend. If you divide it up it is not a huge amount for any given hospice.”  

Butterwick Hospice has already spent the £60,656 on improvements to their buildings and new equipment. Their share of the remaining £75 million will be spent in a similar way. 

Mr Gorringe said: “We have had to cut spending on our facilities over the last few years so there is a backlog of necessary work to complete.” 

When I asked Mr Gorringe if he felt that this money would make a significant difference to Butterwick, he replied with something that I had not thought of. He said: “There is also a danger that donors may see it as having solved our problems and impact on their willingness to provide support.” 

Given that hospices in this country only receive about a third of their funding from the government and raise the rest themselves, the real “danger” of this is clear.  

On the flip side, Mr Thornicroft outlined the impact that a lack of NHS funding has on the public’s ability to support hospices. Using the example of the Myanmar earthquake, he said: “There’s loads of things that are pulling on people’s good will and charitable nature and we can’t keep expecting our communities to fund the significant running costs of hospices when we’re actually doing a massive job to support the NHS to deliver the responsibilities they’ve got.” 

Expressing his gratitude to the community, Mr Thornicroft said: “Without them, we couldn’t survive.” 

Seeing as Butterwick face the same position, by which operating costs are falling to members of the community due to a lack of government funding, I asked Mr Gorringe what people can do to help that doesn’t necessarily involve donating money.  

His response was: “People can help by volunteering if they have the time, we need support in our shops, with fundraising, gardening, admin, finance and many other roles […] People can also help us by taking part in or organising fund raising events, e.g. the Great North Run.” 

At the bottom line, the effect of the financial issues that this investigation has brought to life is simple- it’s the “burden” that’s placed on members of the community, whether that be people who rely on hospice care or members of the public. Like many others, I’d love to be able to donate more money to charity, but rising costs and a student budget make this very hard to do. However, at the very least, we can keep raising awareness for the hospice sector as one thing is certainly clear; they still need our help now more than ever. 

To donate to St Cuthbert’s Hospice, click here.  

To donate to Teesside Hospice, click here.  

To donate to Butterwick Hospice, click here.