Sustainable Funding for Hospice Services – new report released

Sustainable Funding for Hospice Services was released by public policy and economic specialists, Martin Jenkins on the 12th of March 2025. Nelson Tasman Hospice along with hospice colleagues from Waikato, Otago, Harbour, and Tōtara commissioned this study on behalf of the 28 publicly contracted entities who provide hospice care across Aotearoa.

In Summary,

Last year it cost $226 million to run hospice services across New Zealand.

• The government provided $114m of this cost.
• Hospices are required to bridge the funding gap – last year raising $112m from community donations, fundraising, and other sources to meet break even.

New Zealand’s population is growing and aging.

• The number of New Zealanders needing hospice care is rising annually and, by 2045, the need will have doubled.
• The sector faces escalating costs as it responds to an increasingly ageing population and patients requiring more complex palliative care.

A funding gap.

• Due to a combination of growing demand and rising costs, total expenditure will exceed the total revenues from government and community sources in less than 12 months.
• It shows that for the first time the sector won’t be able to raise enough money to meet the demands required of it.

Investing in Hospice care is a smart investment.

• New Zealand’s 28 publicly funded hospices relieve pressure on and deliver considerable cost savings to the national health system.
• Providing free, end-of-life care to thousands of New Zealanders every year, means fewer hospital admissions and Emergency Department visits.
• Last year this saved the public health sector $110 million in clinical services alone.
• Conservatively, local hospices are providing taxpayers at least $1.59 in direct and wider health system benefits, for every $1 of government funding received.
• These health system benefits align with the Government’s relevant health targets.

Additionally, hospices provide quantifiable community and socio-economic benefits.

• Our patients get the care they need at the end of their lives
• Their families and caregivers get support, such as education, counselling, and respite care.
• After a patient has died, hospices continue to provide bereavement support for the families.

The Hospice sector wants to work in partnership with government agencies like Health New Zealand, the Ministry of Health, and others to create a sustainable funding model which can be equitably implemented across the Hospice network nationwide.

📖Read the Executive Summary of the report here.

📖Read the full Sustainable Funding for Hospice Services report here.

Tōtara Hospice Chief Executive Tina McCafferty and Hospice New Zealand Chief Executive Wayne Naylor recently spoke with Kathryn Ryan, host of Nine to Noon (RNZ), about this urgent funding crisis.

📢 Listen to the full interview here.