Ministers have called on the Department of Health to make primary care trusts prove they are not spending extra funding for end of life care on other services.

In a report on end of life services, members of the public accounts committee warned there was a risk an additional £286m committed to improving care would not be used as intended.

The report says the DH should require PCTs to account for how the additional funding is spent.

Committee chair Edward Leigh MP (Con) said: “People approaching the end of life have as much right to quality of life as anyone else. The additional funding of £286m committed by the Department of Health to end of life care is welcome, but PCTs must show that none of this funding has been diverted to other areas.”

MPs urged PCTs to use three year rolling contracts with hospices and to cover the cost of NHS services provided. The report says 70 per cent of independent hospices currently had one year contracts, making it difficult for them to develop services and 97 per cent of hospices said the funding they received did not fully cover such costs.

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