Ashgate Hospice – response statement
NHS Derby and Derbyshire provided the following statement to media organisations on 21 October, in response to statements made by Ashgate Hospice.
Amanda Sullivan, Chief Executive of NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, said:
We greatly value the work of the hospice sector and we are sorry to learn from Ashgate Hospice about their proposals to cut services.
We believe the level of funding we provide to Ashgate Hospice is fair when compared with benchmarks for the hospice sector nationally and it is also in line with NHS England guidance.
Our core contract value with Ashgate Hospice has increased in value by 55% since 2022/23. The request for a multi-million pound increase in funding during this financial year is especially difficult and at a time when the whole health system is under extreme financial pressure, and when no additional services would be provided.
We have been working with the Ashgate team over several months to understand why their costs have risen so significantly this financial year. We have offered to support Ashgate in reviewing the way care is provided for the North Derbyshire community, working in partnership with health, social care and the voluntary sector.
We will now work with Ashgate and the rest of the health and care system to mitigate the impact of these proposals.
Additional questions and responses
We understand the concerns that have been raised over the way the NHS pays for services at Ashgate Hospice. Here we respond to some of the points raised to us.
Comparison of funding “north compared to south”
NHS funding for end-of-life and palliative care in Derbyshire is different between the north and south of the county.
In the north, Ashgate Hospice is the main provider, commissioned by the NHS to deliver inpatient and other palliative care services.
In the south, there is no equivalent hospice provision. Instead, inpatient bedded care is provided by University Hospitals Derby and Burton at the Nightingale Macmillan Unit in Royal Derby Hospital.
It’s not possible to directly compare NHS funding for a hospice with funding for a large hospital trust.
However, comparing NHS funding across hospices is valid.
Ashgate Hospice receives funding that aligns with national benchmarks and NHS England guidance.
We believe the level of funding we provide to Ashgate Hospice is fair when compared with benchmarks for the hospice sector nationally and it is also in line with NHS England guidance.
Proportion of NHS funding to hospices
The local NHS commissions end of life palliative care from Ashgate, including inpatient bedded care, home visits, day hospice, occupational therapy and physiotherapy, plus other services.
Local NHS funding represents more than half of the total direct care costs (excluding overheads) of delivering the NHS-commissioned services at Ashgate.
These arrangements are in line with NHS England guidance and in line with normal practice for hospices, based on benchmarking undertaken by Hospice UK.
This benchmarking shows that, nationally, on average, Integrated Care Boards fund around 55% of hospices’ direct care costs, excluding overheads.
It is standard practice for hospices to raise additional funds through charitable donations to support services beyond those commissioned by the NHS and to cover operational costs.