The hospices in South Cumbria, according to an MP, receive the worst funding in all of England.
The St. Mary's and St. John's hospices have not received any additional funding this year despite the fact that the local NHS integrated care board (ICB) typically increases its allocation each year.
Underfunding, according to Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, would be "painful" for families and put additional strain on nearby hospitals.
According to Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, the organization was reviewing its funding choice.
According to a spokesperson, "The ICB is under tremendous financial pressure, so we are scrutinizing every dollar we spend.".
About 800 people are cared for annually by St Mary's, which has locations in Barrow and Ulverston.
Given the funding allocation and the salary and cost-of-living increases, chief executive Val Stangoe said she was "really quite shocked.".
We're used to seeing a very small increase each year, but for the past few years, Ms. Stangoe said, "there has typically been something.".
She added that because only about 25% of the hospice's funding comes from the ICB and the remainder comes from donations and charitable contributions, it would have to work harder to raise money and ask the neighborhood for more contributions.
Invoking Helen Whately, the health minister, Mr. Farron, a Liberal Democrat, brought up the matter in the Commons this week.
Her involvement in a "specific conversation between a hospice and an ICB," she claimed, would "not be the right thing.".
To combat inflation, she claimed she was looking for "transparency" regarding the amount of funding given to ICBs that was "getting through" to hospices.
In addition to a £500,000 increase in salary costs, Mr. Farron claimed that hospice energy costs had tripled.
According to him, there was a 2 point 7 percent increase in hospice payments nationwide.
It will be tragic, painful, and miserable for those families, he said, if hospices are unable to provide the level of care for those nearing the end of their lives and their families that they currently do.
Additionally, it would "add an additional burden to the NHS and our hospitals that they simply cannot bear," the speaker continued.
