PM urged to support St Catherine's Hospice

A West Sussex MP has asked the government to provide support to one of the county's hospices.

St Catherine's Hospice in Crawley has been forced to make 40 people redundant and cut back on services due to high costs.

The facility has 24 beds on site but can only operate with 12 of those, due to financial restraints.

Crawley's Labour MP Peter Lamb voiced his concerns over its future at Wednesday's Prime Minister's Questions saying the redundancies came "following years of real-terms cuts to their funding".

The hospice, which provides services across West Sussex and Surrey, announced the redundancies in September alongside confirming that savings of £1.5m needed to be made.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Lamb said: "St Catherine's Hospice, serving my constituency of Crawley, has recently made a number of redundancies. Palliative care is hugely important to our communities, and I pay tribute to them for their work.

"Can the prime minister join me in thanking the work of St Catherine's [Hospice] and outline how the government will look to support palliative care moving forwards?"

Agreeing with his Labour colleague, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he recognises the "vital role that hospices play in providing support to people at the end of their life".

He said most hospices receive funding by providing NHS services, adding that this "will be set out in the usual way".

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care previously said that another £26 billion could be invested in health and social care thanks to "the choices the chancellor made in the Budget".

Giles Tomsett, the chief executive of the hospice, said he was "heartbroken" by the redundancies.

Further cutbacks have seen the closing of the St Catherine's Hospice at Home service, and a 24/7 helpline for patients now running on reduced hours from 08:00 to 16:00 GMT, Monday to Friday.

The hospice says it has also changed its referral criteria to focus on patients with more complex care needs.

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