Mountbatten Learns How Much It Will Receive In Second Phase Of Government Funding

The Mountbatten Group, which comprises Mountbatten Isle of Wight and Mountbatten Hampshire, has been advised it will receive just under £996,000 in the second phase of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DHSC) emergency funding package for hospices in England, to be used for capital spend.

In December 2024, the DHSC first unveiled its plans to give palliative and end-of-life specialist care providers £100 million, with allocations based on charitable spend to

be paid over two phases, through Hospice UK.

What hospices have been allowed to use the money for is very limited: It can only

fund capital projects — building projects and equipment, not day-to-day running

costs like staff wages and training.

The Mountbatten Group received its phase one allocation on 31 March 2025.

Just over £330,400 was split between Mountbatten Isle of Wight and Mountbatten Hampshire.

The funding helped us increase parking and improve facilities, as well as paying for infrastructure upgrades at our hospices (including major repairs, new flooring and furniture, and clinical equipment), as well as the much-needed replacement and upgrade of our IT equipment.

Phase two of the funding will begin to be paid from next month (August 2025).

The Mountbatten Group’s allocation of £995,867 will again be split between Hampshire

and the Isle of Wight.

However, restrictions on how this money can be used mean it does not address, in

any way, the proposed NHS funding cuts to Mountbatten Isle of Wight.

Ongoing discussions about these proposed cuts continue, between the Mountbatten Group

and the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board.

Incoming CEO, Becky McGregor, said:

“The Mountbatten Group is delighted to receive this second allocation of vital funding.

“However, we must again stress this is a one-off capital investment, which does not help with our significant and rising ongoing day-to-day spend or the proposed funding cuts of £1.4 million in 2026/7.

“Mountbatten is two-thirds funded by our communities and one-third funded by the NHS.

"It is an increasing challenge to find the £19 million needed every year, to run Mountbatten Hampshire and Mountbatten Isle of Wight.

“We are already significantly supporting people in our communities through death and dying, thanks to a strategy developed over the last decade.

"This community focus is a crucial key part of the NHS’s ten-year development plan.

"In recent years, we have seen a 250 per cent rise in the need for our charities’ community services and for end-of-life care at home.

“This huge and ongoing growth, alongside rising costs like National Insurance increases, NHS pay-awards and the proposed cuts by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, are among the challenges we continue to face.

“Meanwhile, our expert staff continue to provide 24/7 care, in homes and in our hospices, on the Isle of Wight, in Southampton and across large parts of Hampshire, to around 4,000 people in any one day.”