Strengthening our local hospices takes pressure off our NHS

SIMON JUPP IS THE CONSERVATIVE MP FOR EAST DEVON

I'm delighted that Hospiscare is receiving an extra £480,000 from NHS Devon to boost its budget for the next year following persistent campaigning and my debate in Parliament earlier this year. It was a pleasure to be invited to Hospiscare’s fantastic headquarters in Exeter and celebrate the news with the charity’s CEO, Andrew Randall, and Clinical Director, Ann Rhys.

Hospiscare runs hospices at High View Gardens in Exmouth and Searle House in Exeter, and has fantastic clinical nurse specialist teams in Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth and further afield. Hospiscare is the biggest of the local hospice charities, supporting 2,500 people each year, but Sidmouth Hospice at Home and Seaton Hospice at Home provide invaluable services, too. These charities need dedicated teams and a lot of funding to support many thousands of patients.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, Chair of NHS Devon, still needs to provide more funding and include other local providers such as Sidmouth Hospice at Home who currently don’t receive a penny from NHS Devon. Nonetheless, nearly half-a-million pounds for Hospiscare is a step in the right direction.

Many of our loved ones will need the support provided by local hospice charities and their brilliant teams. It's time for Dr Wollaston and Devon’s NHS bosses to provide them with fair hospice funding, once and for all.

The benefits of fairer funding are plain to see. Strengthening our local hospices takes pressure off our NHS. But without fairer funding, and given the perfect storm of less fundraising income, more costs and more demand, there is a real risk they may have to cut vital services.

In other news, I was disappointed to learn of Halifax's decision to close their bank branch in Exmouth on 7 ^th August 2024. I have written to Halifax on behalf of residents to express concerns about the closure. I am also pushing for a banking hub for Exmouth. Exmouth is the largest town in Devon, and one in five people in Exmouth are aged over 65 – an age group that data shows tend to use a bank branch more often.

Sidmouth’s banking hub is taking shape and is set to open because the last bank in town is closing. I saw the building being kitted over the weekend. The opening date should be revealed soon. I’m also working with Cllr Henry Riddell to explore whether a banking hub could be opened in Budleigh Salterton.

Banks have been steadily closing their high street branches since the mid-1990s – washing their hands of providing core services to loyal customers, and leaving communities in the lurch. But bank branches remain important for many local people and businesses. I’ll do what I can to protect access to cash and banking services.