Impact Of Mountbatten Isle Of Wight Funding To Be Scrutinised By Councillors

The impact of Mountbatten Isle of Wight and end-of-life care funding for Islanders will be scrutinised by county councillors this week.

The adult social care, public health and housing needs committee is due to examine palliative care services in light of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board’s (ICB) proposed cuts to the hospice service.

The pre-meeting report says:

“The committee have raised concerns surrounding Mountbatten Hospice funding and palliative care services following proposed cuts by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICB.

“It was reported in June 2025 that a £1.4 million annual reduction in NHS funding was planned for Mountbatten Isle of Wight, with around £600,000 being cut from autumn 2025.

"This represented a 40 per cent disinvestment by 2026/27, impacting on the sustainability of the service.

“Mountbatten Isle of Wight is the main provider of specialist end-of-life care on the Isle of Wight and supports over 2,300 Islanders daily.

“The hospice is two-thirds funded by community donations, and one-third from NHS sources. A £996,000 emergency government grant was awarded in July 2025, but it is restricted to capital projects and cannot cover operational costs.”

Key questions for the committee include how the ICB plans to ‘ensure continuity’ of the palliative care services if Mountbatten has to scale back its operations, what alternative service models or providers have been looked at to mitigate the cuts’ impact and the accessibility of end-of-life care.

A document submitted to the committee from the ICB says the board’s intention is to ‘retain and enhance’ Mountbatten’s ‘excellent support’ to Island residents.

It says:

“We have agreed to provide interim funding to Mountbatten Isle of Wight of £527,000 to enable appropriate transition to the proposed new contract from April 1, 2026.

“The new contract is based on equity and fairness.

"We do recognise the impact it has on Mountbatten Isle of Wight due to its current contract and historical strong levels of funding from the NHS.

"We recognise the challenging financial position that these changes will have on Mountbatten.”

The adult social care, public health and housing needs committee will meet at County Hall at 5pm on Thursday.