Guildford MP asks Health Minister to ensure Christopher's Hospice receives a fair share of funding

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 15th Oct 2004

Sue Doughty yesterday asked the Health Minister, Melanie Johnson, to visit Christopher's Children's Hospice in Guildford.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate on hospices, Sue called for the Government to ensure that children's hospices receive some public money for the vital healthcare work that they do. Unlike adult hospices, children's hospices, like Christopher's, receive no government funding.

Speaking after yesterday's debate, Sue Doughty said:

"Children's hospices need justice. Ministers of Health have said repeatedly that it is for the Primary Care Trusts to provide funding for children's' hospices. Yet over the three years I have been fighting on this issue, not one step has been taken to make this happen.

"The Government must stop burying its head in the sand over funding for hospices like Christopher's. They must take steps to ensure that care which would have been provided within the NHS to children with life-limiting illness is funded by the NHS. It is quite wrong for the many generous fund raisers to be contributing so magnificently only to see the Government acting disgracefully towards the most vulnerable children we have, and their families.

"If the Minister visits Christopher's she will not only be able to meet the children and families that they support, she can also speak directly to the staff and management. They will tell her how hard they have worked to obtain the funding that Health Ministers repeatedly claim is available from PCTs, but without any success."