Wigan and Leigh Hospice will be one of the hospices receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds to conduct vital repairs and improvements to its facilities this year as part of a £75 million investment announced by our Labour Government.

When this funding settlement was first announced by the Labour Government earlier this year, I wrote to the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting to ask that Wigan and Leigh Hospice receives its fair share. I was very pleased to see that the hospice building will be receiving over £350,000 which it will use to install a new heating system and a memory garden. This is in addition to £150,000 that was provided last year to fix the roof.

This investment is part of a wider 10-year plan to improve quality of care across the NHS and more than 170 hospices are benefiting from what is the largest cash injection ever into the sector. This is especially needed at a time when hospice budgets are under critical amounts of strain. Under the last Government funding fell in real terms by £47 million between 2021 and 2023.

Palliative and end of life-care has too often been overlooked and underfunded, something that was thrown into particularly sharp focus during the debates over assisted dying over the course of the last year. Hospices across the UK are now caring for over 300,000 people, including 23,000 in the North West.

Patients and their families deserve better and it is clear that the tireless efforts of hospice staff volunteers, and the wider community needs to be matched with Government support and investment in the long-term which is exactly what we plan to do.

A new 3-year settlement to deliver more certainty for hospices is currently being negotiated and is something that both Hospice UK and the charity Marie Curie have said is vital for the future. It will also help to ease pressure on the NHS by providing more support and care in the community and outside of hospital settings.

For a long time hospices have relied on donations from the public to support them and I am proud of the work that is done year-round across Wigan to fundraise in support of Wigan and Leigh Hospice. But as their Chief Executive, Jo Carby correctly said it is unfair to increasingly rely on donations from the public when many people are already struggling themselves with tight budgets.

Labour’s plan aims to change all that, delivering certainty and funding to hospices and dignity for patients and their families. It is part of our broader plan to restore our NHS to what we know it can be, a service that cares for everyone who needs it from the cradle to the grave.

Wigan and Leigh Hospice provides invaluable support to so many people and their loved ones across our Borough and I am confident that with a Government that supports them and hundreds of other hospices across the country, we can ensure all patients receive the highest quality end-of-life care in comfortable dignified surroundings.

If you think you can support the Hospice in any way, you can do so here https://www.wlh.org.uk/support-us/