Mountbatten will receive just under £996,000 in the second phase of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) emergency funding package for hospices in England – but the money can only be used for capital spend and does not address the proposed NHS funding cuts.
In December 2024, the DHSC first unveiled its plans to give palliative and end-of-life specialist care providers £100million, with allocations based on charitable spend to be paid over 2 phases, through Hospice UK.
What hospices have been allowed to use the money for is very limited: it can only fund capital projects — building projects and equipment, not day-to-day running costs like staff wages and training.
The Mountbatten Group received its Phase 1 allocation on 31st March 2025. Just over £330,400 was split between Mountbatten Isle of Wight and Mountbatten Hampshire. The funding helped increase parking and improve facilities, as well as paying for infrastructure upgrades at the hospices (including major repairs, new flooring and furniture, and clinical equipment), as well as the much-needed replacement and upgrade of the IT equipment.
Phase 2 of the funding will begin to be paid from next month (August 2025). The Mountbatten Group’s allocation of £995,867 will again be split between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
However, restrictions on how this money can be used mean it does not address, in any way, the proposed NHS funding cuts to Mountbatten Isle of Wight. Ongoing discussions about these proposed cuts continue, between the Mountbatten Group and the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board.
Incoming CEO, Becky McGregor, has said:
“The Mountbatten Group is delighted to receive this second allocation of vital funding.
Article continues below this advertisement “However, we must again stress this is a one-off capital investment, which does not help with our significant and rising ongoing day-to-day spend or the proposed funding cuts of £1.4 million in 2026/7.
“Mountbatten is two-thirds funded by our communities and one-third funded by the NHS. It is an increasing challenge to find the £19 million needed every year, to run Mountbatten Hampshire and Mountbatten Isle of Wight.
“We are already significantly supporting people in our communities through death and dying, thanks to a strategy developed over the last decade. This community focus is a crucial key part of the NHS’s ten-year development plan. In recent years, we have seen a 250 per cent rise in the need for our charities’ community services and for end-of-life care at home.
“This huge and ongoing growth, alongside rising costs like National Insurance increases, NHS pay-awards and the proposed cuts by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, are among the challenges we continue to face.
“Meanwhile, our expert staff continue to provide 24/7 care, in homes and in our hospices, on the Isle of Wight, in Southampton and across large parts of Hampshire, to around 4,000 people in any one day.”
At the very worst the ratio should be one third from the public and two thirds from the Government. I firmly believe that these vital services should be 100% funded by the Government and any fund raising be used for additional benefits for the hospices.