"If something doesn't change soon, we will be saying goodbye to our beloved hospice movement", the chief executive of Mountbatten on the Isle of Wight has warned, after a report revealed ‘drastic real term cuts’ in funding.

Nigel Hartley MBE said in his 35 years in the industry, he has never experienced "such a critical and desperate time".

His words come after a report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) called the Integrated Care Board (ICB) commissioning of hospice services ‘not fit for purpose’.

The APPG report found there had been ‘drastic real term cuts’ in the funding hospices receive, which has not kept pace with inflation.

Mr Hartley asked: “Another critical report from the APPG on hospice and palliative care - but who is listening and who is being held accountable?"

He estimates Mountbatten's NHS funding will be down £800,000 in April this year, due to no uplift.

He said the amount received will remain flat with other potential cuts.

The annual cost of Mountbatten’s services across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is £21 million and only a third of funding comes from the NHS.

He added: “If something doesn’t change soon, we will be saying goodbye to our beloved hospice movement and the growing number of people who so desperately need our care will be left and ignored as they were at the birth of the NHS in the 1940s.

“So much of what we do is supported by our local communities.

"I think there are strengths in that and we need to retain healthy and reciprocal relationships with our biggest advocates, but it only works with consistent, competent and planned funding from our NHS partners.

“We also need our relationships with them to be healthy and reciprocal but we can no longer sit back and ignore this – we will not sit back and ignore this.”

Mountbatten currently supports around 2,000 people on the Isle of Wight and 1,500 in Southampton.

The hospice anticipates a further growth of 40 per cent over the coming years, mainly due to the growing older population.