HUNDREDS of terminally-ill patients, relatives and hospice volunteers have written to Tony Blair, demanding more NHS funding.

The protest letters, all from the North-west, were due to be handed into Downing Street today.

St Ann's Hospice in Little Hulton is supporting the action with many of its patients writing to the Prime Minister, appealing for more financial support.

St Ann's Hospice chief executive Terry McDonnell said St Ann's had to raise £7.8 million each year just to keep functioning. Of that amount, £5.6 million had to be raised through voluntary contributions and sponsored events.

Bolton Hospice said it was fortunate not to be in the "dire straits" of many of its North-west counterparts.

Chief executive of Bolton Hospice, Margaret Evans, said: "We are supported by the local community and Bolton people are very generous.

"We obviously would like more money from the Primary Care Trust but we are not in the position of closing beds which I hear some hospices are being forced to do in the North-west."

Hospices are the major providers of palliative care in the UK but receive only 28 per cent of their costs from the state, down from 35 per cent in 1997.

The national charity for the hospice movement, Help The Hospices, has been lobbying the Government on behalf of all independent hospices.

The organisation's acting chief executive, Christine Shaw says in most cases the NHS grants do not even meet the costs of nurses and doctors' salaries.

She said: "A vital part of our health service is being kept afloat through the generosity of local people and we do not feel this is in line with the advice of the Charity Commission that charitable funds should not be spent on public services."