Debate contribution: Children’s Hospice: Funding

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 14 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

14 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Children’s Hospice: Funding

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4590257

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Like other Members, I commend the work done by the Children's Hospice and all the important and essential care that it provides, the palliative care that has been mentioned and the life-enhancing work and care provided to people with life-limiting conditions. I agree with the motion and the amendment that provision of that care and those services should not depend on charity or fundraising. Of course, that is not to knock the people who give up their time and efforts to volunteer: the point is that this should be a key and core aspect of public health, and the key word here is "public". It is unacceptable in an organisation like the NHS, which is supposed to be, as has been said, from the cradle to the grave, that often, at both ends of that journey, services are either limited or are completely non-existent. The hospice and all health services should be fully publicly funded. Some might ask, "How?". I am sure that Members are preparing interventions to say, "You cannot do it", "There is not enough money", "Budgets are tight" and all that. That is really saying that it is OK to operate budgets and services on a shoestring. As to where the money should come from, briefly, Apple has robbed taxpayers of €13 billion in unpaid taxes. Globally, $2 trillion could be raised if the example of Spain was followed by imposing a feather-light wealth tax on the 0·5% richest households. Despite the panic often predicted around such measures, targeting extreme wealth has not resulted in the super-rich fleeing. That is our choice: more of the same bean-counting approach or a rapid shift in direction that recognises the need to properly invest in all public services. In this context, we are discussing the fact that the hospice faced a budget cut of £85,000 last year. That was completely cruel, uncalled for and shocking. The hospice needs to be put back on a financially sustainable footing. The best way — the only way — is to make sure that it is fully publicly funded. That is the only way to make it properly sustainable. It is concerning to find that, even in the aftermath of that cut being reinstated, the bed capacity of the hospice was reduced and limited, particularly at weekends. It is remarkable, when you think that around 350 children and their families use the hospice every year, that this is the only service of its kind. You cannot value the service or measure it in crude economic terms; it is completely invaluable. We know that, as has been said, families who have experienced its end-of-life and respite care have found it transformative and called it "a home away from home". The hospice helps ease pressure on family relationships, improves mental health and gives time and space to plan the end-of-life care that is essential. Families who have used respite services have described them — it has been said already — as a lifeline. I pay tribute to someone I know, Matt Rooney, who has been so vocal on the benefits of respite services for himself and his family. He spoke out publicly last year about the enforced cuts. Care in all aspects should be socialised and should not fall on the shoulders of families or individuals. It would, of course, be remiss not to mention the continuous austerity Budgets in this place, when it has sat, impacting on the healthcare and services that should be in place. It has been mentioned in passing, but the fact that there is no paediatric pathology service in the North is completely shocking. It is beyond tragic that, since 2019, paediatric post-mortem examinations have been carried out in Liverpool and around 240 families every year are forced to travel to England in the aftermath of the traumatic loss of a child. I want to know what the Minister is doing about that. There is more and more pressure —.

Sure.

I thank the Member for her intervention. I know —.

Thank you. I know that the Member and others were at that meeting. It is good that the issue was raised. I hope that the issue of Apple, extra money and billions was raised. There may be certain Ministers in the South who do not want to invest in these services, but I am sure that that point was raised by the Member or someone else. To be serious, it is an important point to raise. People should not be forced to travel any great distance, but especially having to get on an aeroplane and travel to England or elsewhere is unacceptable.

If services prove to come out of that conversation, as hopefully they will, that is positive news.

More and more pressure is, in a general sense, being put on the community and voluntary sector to fundraise and to provide services, when all those services should instead be provided by the state through the public sector. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, it is completely unfair and quite twisted, to be frank, for struggling people to be told that they are being forced to pay for services on which they are more likely to rely. I support the motion and the amendment, but I have to diverge somewhat from its call by saying that 100% of funding for the Children's Hospice should be provided by the Department of Health and the Executive.

904 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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