Hospice care eases pressure on families, mum says

The mother of a six-year-old boy says hospice care has been "incredibly important" for her family, and has called on the government to prioritise supporting the services.

Kit, from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, has epilepsy, motor dysfunction and is partially blind after a seizure when he was 18 months old damaged his brain.

His mother, Katherine, is now calling for hospices to be better supported, after Kit lost services due to the struggles charities face.

A petition with over 100,000 signatures calling for sustainable hospice funding will be delivered to Downing Street on Tuesday, while a government spokesperson said it wanted to modernise the sector.

Katherine told BBC Radio Kent: "We want people who have a difficult life to have dignity, and that is slowly being eroded.

"We are Kit's carers, even though we don't get classed as that. Hospice support just eases the pressure, it's incredibly important for us.

"I think a lot of people think hospices are government funded, and they don't understand that when you see things like the charity shops, that is one of their only revenue streams."

Katherine said her family had previously received support from hospices including respite breaks and holidays for Kit, which gave her family breathing space and helped them spend more time with their other children.

After being told that services which cared for her son were due to be cut, Katherine launched her own petition calling on Kent County Council and the government to support the charities, which received over 3,000 signatures.

A council spokesperson said it understood "the concerns of families affected by the financial challenges facing hospice charities" and recognised "the valuable support these organisations provide", but that it must prioritise funding to meet its statutory obligations.

Other campaigners have also called for the government to prioritise sustainable hospice funding to help protect and support the charities.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said the government would improve palliative care, including through a framework to modernise the sector, and "tackle the variation across the country".

This followed the government's "biggest investment in hospices in a generation", they added.

Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, on Instagram and listen to BBC Radio Kent on Sounds. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.