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'We would like certainty around funding' – PM wants to take closer look at how we care for the dying

November 22, 2017

Jacinda Ardern helped out at a hospice fundraiser, and promised to find a sustainable funding model for the sector.

Jacinda Ardern is wanting to take a closer look at how we care for those who are near the end of life and has promised to find a sustainable funding model for the sector. 

While helping out at a hospice fundrasier today, the Prime Minister said a new funding model has "been a long time coming".

"It is one of our ambitions to try to establish that in the palliative care sector," she said. 

Nationally it costs over $103 million to provide the cost of hospice services.

The government funds just under 70 per cent and for each hospice, the funding varies.

Wellington's Mary Potter Hospice gets just half of its funding from the Government and chairman Mark Cassidy told 1 NEWS the demand on their services are set to increase in the future. 

"The statistics tell us we have a massive increase going forward in terms of demand for the services as people get older as their conditions get more complex," he said. 

In 2016, one in three people who died in New Zealand were supported by hospice and over 18,000 families received hospice services before or after the death of a loved one. 

Chief executive Mary Schumacher said fundraising can be a challenge. 

"I think what we would like to see is some certainty around sustainable funding and so that would help hospices to plan for the future."

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