It was revealed last week that five hospices in the UK had confirmed or were planning cuts, including one in the West Midlands where a reduction of 40 jobs and some in patient beds was announced.

Hospice UK, which represents the sector, said no other area of the health system would tolerate service cuts and redundancies on this scale and warned that further announcements by other charities were likely.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it wanted everyone to have access to “high-quality end of life care”.

It said: “Hospices provide vital, compassionate care for people facing the end of their lives, and invaluable support to their families.

“This government is determined to shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, to ensure patients and their families receive personalised care in the most appropriate setting.”

Toby Porter, chief executive of Hospice UK, said: “Hospices are ideally placed to alleviate the huge strain the NHS is under.

“It is counterproductive in the extreme to allow their services to be cut back in this way.”