2nd December 2025
Evora Hospice welcomes new recommendations to improve palliative care provision
Evora Hospice has responded to the Northern Ireland Assembly Report on Access to Palliative Care Services
Evora Hospice, formerly Southern Area Hospice Services, has responded to the Northern Ireland Assembly Report on Access to Palliative Care Services published Tuesday 2nd December 2025, welcoming the Committee for Health’s 27-point recommendation list to reform palliative and end-of-life care provision and support the hospice with its vision for a new hospice building.
As well as supporting the hospice with its move to a new site, an immediate increase in funding to 50% of the actual cost of care, rising to 100% within five years, is among the recommendations set out by the committee, which Evora Hospice says is an essential step toward safeguarding hospice services for patients with complex needs.
In 2024-25, hospices in Northern Ireland provided palliative and end-of-life care to 12,000 people and direct support services to 1,700 family members, friends, and carers. This included almost 80,000 visits made to patients at home by specialist palliative care nurses and doctors as well as generalist healthcare staff, some 14,000 outpatient appointments, and 19,000 days and nights of in-patient care.
Liz Cuddy, Chief Executive of Evora Hospice, said: “I want to thank the committee and stakeholders who contributed to this landmark inquiry. This report has set out with great clarity just how important hospice care is to the community and the health and social care system in Northern Ireland. Yet it also highlights the immense effort palliative care providers go to in the face of significant funding challenges. We are in no doubt it will take a huge collective effort from the department, community and our stakeholders to deliver on the recommendations set out in the inquiry but it is essential that this is done and we look forward to working closely with the minister to secure a sustainable funding model and the provision of services to patients and families when they need it most. From Evora Hospice’s perspective, I am also very pleased to see the recommendation that the department assist in the delivery of our vision for a new hospice and again look forward to working with the minister and department to advance this vision.”
Evora Hospice now calls upon the Minister for Health and policymakers to act now to deliver reform to address disparities and ensure equitable access to palliative care so that no one is left behind.
The full Northern Ireland Assembly Report on Access to Palliative Care Services can be accessed by clicking the button below.
