HOSPICES providing end-of-life care for terminally ill people are facing a £60 million funding shortfall.

Hospice UK, which represents more than 200 hospices, said they now receive more income from their charity shops than they do from the government.

The charity warned in July that hospice finances are in their worst state for 20 years, meaning fewer patient beds, staff redundancies and fewer home visits to dying patients.

Hospices raised £504m from charity shops in the year to March, while the government provided £466m in the same period, but the organisation said that they could not rely on charity shops and local fundraising to plug the £60m shortfall.

Hospice UK is calling for emergency government support to “stem the tide of hospice cutbacks” and is to stage a “pop-up” charity shop in Westminster on Thursday to mark Hospice Care Week and win MPs’ support for the appeal.

Director of external affairs Sarah West said: “Hospices are having to make impossible decisions about the services they can afford to provide, including making front-line staff redundant and closing or reducing some services.

“This not only puts more strain on the already overstretched NHS but also risks leaving many without access to care they so desperately need and deserve. Inaction is not an option.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “This government has inherited huge challenges in the hospice sector, as well as a £22 billion black hole in the public finances, so these problems will take time to fix.”