Children's hospice in cash plea

Representatives from a children's hospice on Teesside are urging the government to increase funding to services for terminally-ill youngsters.

Staff from Stockton-based Butterwick hospice were meeting Social Services Minister Liam Byrne on Tuesday.

They were being joined by Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Ashok Kumar, at the London meeting.

Mr Kumar said the cash plight of the Butterwick site was an example of how similar organisations were struggling.

The Butterwick, which was set up in 1998, says it is struggling to find the £2.6m needed annually to keep the complex open.

Charitable funding

Mr Kumar said he hoped to persuade the government to make it easier to access central funding and to gain cash from local health trusts.

He said: "The issue of funding for children's hospices is a central one, not least for the families who need the services that units such as the Butterwick provide.

"At the moment this service is funded primarily by both charitable funding, lottery funding and by direct funding by the NHS through local primary care trusts.

"The Butterwick has particular problems because its lottery funding ends in a few weeks time.

"They are hopeful of securing extra funding from the NHS, but as they admit children from a wide geographical area both in and around Teesside, they have to approach no fewer than 15 Primary Care Trusts - a task which is complex and bureaucratic."