Rotherham Hospice response to the Government’s Modern Service Framework for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care
Rotherham Hospice welcomes the Government’s interim update on the new Modern Service Framework for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care. We are pleased to see palliative and end-of-life care recognised as one of only six national Modern Service Frameworks, with a clear focus on rising demand, late identification of need, unequal access, outcome measurement and the pressures facing the wider health and care system. The commitment to publish the final framework in autumn 2026 gives the sector a vital opportunity to shape a more consistent, equitable and sustainable future for palliative and end-of-life care.
The direction set out in the interim update strongly aligns with Rotherham Hospice’s own strategy, Living Life’s Wishes. Our strategy is built around personalised care, earlier support, inclusivity and equity, financial sustainability, innovation, a supported workforce, and greater awareness and access. These are not abstract aims for us. They describe the practical work we are already doing every day across our 14-bed Inpatient Unit, 24/7 Hospice at Home service, advice and support line, counselling, bereavement support, Sunbeams children and young people’s service, therapy, rehabilitation and wider wellbeing offer.
We particularly welcome the Government’s focus on earlier identification, care closer to home, timely response, out-of-hours telephone support, reducing inequalities, and measuring what matters to patients, families and carers. These priorities reflect what people in Rotherham tell us they need: compassionate care, clear advice, coordinated support, timely response, dignity, choice, and help that is shaped around what matters most to them and those they love.
The hospice already makes a significant contribution to the local health and care system. In 2025/26, our Hospice at Home team completed 12,320 home visits and 10,956 telephone contacts. Our data also shows 1,428 GP appointments avoided and 1,363 hospital admissions avoided. This demonstrates the value of specialist palliative care in supporting people at home, reducing crisis, improving flow through the wider system and helping people receive care in the place that is right for them.
We also welcome the focus on integrated needs assessment and sustainable contracting of hospice services. This is essential. Hospices are not optional extras within the health and care system. They are core providers of specialist care, community support, family support and bereavement care. For Rotherham Hospice, NHS funding currently covers only part of the true cost of delivering our services, meaning we remain heavily reliant on charitable income to provide care that the local population needs. A fair, transparent and sustainable commissioning model is now needed so that hospice services can plan with confidence, respond to growing demand and work as equal partners within local systems. The Government’s interim update rightly identifies integrated needs assessment and sustainable contracting of hospice services as immediate actions for systems.
For Rotherham, this must also connect directly with the developing local system picture, including neighbourhood working, frailty pathways, community response, primary care, hospital discharge, anticipatory care planning and support for people with non-cancer diagnoses. Palliative care cannot sit at the edge of these developments. It needs to be designed into them from the start. The hospice has a unique role to play because we work across inpatient care, people’s homes, families, bereavement, emotional support and the voluntary sector. We can help the system see the whole person, not just a diagnosis, pathway or episode of care.
The framework also reinforces the importance of equity. Rotherham Hospice is committed to ensuring that hospice care is accessible to everyone who needs it, regardless of diagnosis, background, culture, age, identity, faith, language, disability, geography or personal circumstances. We know there is more to do to reach people earlier, to improve access for underrepresented groups, and to make sure people understand that hospice care is not only about the final days of life. It is about helping people live as well as possible, for as long as possible.
We will use the development of the Modern Service Framework as an opportunity to strengthen our own work, including our new clinical operating model, Care Navigation, self-referral planning, Hospice at Home development, supportive care, patient and family feedback, and our new Care Standards. These developments are all focused on the same goal: making it easier for people to get the right support, from the right person, at the right time.
Rotherham Hospice looks forward to working with NHS South Yorkshire, Rotherham Place partners, primary care, The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, local authority colleagues, voluntary sector partners, Hospice UK and the communities we serve as the framework develops. The opportunity now is to move from recognition to action. If we get this right, more people in Rotherham will be identified earlier, supported better, cared for closer to home where appropriate, and surrounded by the compassion, skill and dignity they deserve at the most important moments of their lives.
