Richard House Children’s Hospice—London’s oldest children’s hospice—is now facing imminent closure. Families are already without vital services, as evident from the briefing to parents. If it collapses completely, hundreds of medically fragile children will be left with no respite, no specialist palliative support, and nowhere to die with dignity in London. For children who require this support, the consequences are unthinkable, and the pressures on the NHS and Social Care will be tenfold. 

This crisis does not occur in isolation. Families like these are simultaneously navigating unsafe, fragmented NHS pathways, often without access to legal aid, advocacy or statutory support. Many of them have escalated these issues to their local MPs, the Secretary of State for Health, and the Mayors of their boroughs (such as Tower Hamlets and Newham). With no response at all, whilst they struggle to care and have no access to essential services. This community is the most isolated and marginalised in London's society. Many of them face intersectional challenges that they have no choice but to overcome; the lack of access to support is a significant additional barrier to those challenges. A Shadow Health Minister has already acknowledged the national seriousness of the hospice funding crisis and the concerns being raised across the country. However, this London-specific situation requires immediate, local scrutiny. 

This is a London scandal in the making. Life-limited children have no hospice to support them, no coherent NHS pathway, and no reliable statutory safety net.