Health Minister Claire Christian has told Tynwald additional financial support has been given to Hospice Isle of Man, as concerns over its financial position were raised during the Assisted Dying Bill debate.
Speaking in Tynwald Court, Ms Christian responded to comments from Tim Glover, who had raised concerns about “financial woes” Hospice.
Earlier this year, Hospice announced it would be making redundancies and cutting back on some services after operating at a deficit for several years.
Mr Glover suggested that if assisted dying becomes a government matter, ministers “should also look at how hospice is being dealt with”, and said he would “strongly advocate that 50% of their core funding for hospice should come from government before this bill comes into operation”.
Ongoing
Ms Christian said discussions were ongoing and said the department had provided financial support to see the charity through the coming months.
“Additional financial support was given to the Hospice to see them through these next six months, that was agreed by the department,” she told members.
“We have been in very good communication with the Hospice with regards to getting into the detail of what the services they provide and the costs and the demand around that and I believe it was probably about two weeks ago we finally got all the information that we needed from the Hospice.”
The DHSC Minister added that the department is now working on a paper that will set out a “clear policy direction” on future support, and said this would be brought forward before the general election later this summer.
She added: “It is really important, and I can understand when I’ve had communication from constituents or from the wider public, their concerns are, please make sure the Hospice is regarded and looked after and again, that is my duty to uphold that and give the assurances to this court.”
Should additional funding be required, Ms Christian confirmed any proposal would need to come through Treasury and be approved by Tynwald.
Dr Alex Allinson MHK, the mover of the Assisted Dying Bill amendments, also addressed the issue, telling members: “This was never a binary debate between assisted dying or palliative care and hospice. The two go together, and the two both need to be strengthened.”