Protesters gather to demand hospice reopens

Campaigners have returned to a hospice inpatient unit in Liverpool a year after it was shut to stage another protest to demand the facility reopen as soon as possible.

The 26-bed unit at Marie Curie in Woolton, Liverpool, closed in July 2024 because of a shortage of specialised nursing staff.

The decision sparked immediate concern and a campaign group, Save our Hospice, formed to demand a u-turn.

A Marie Curie spokesman said it was in talks with the NHS Cheshire & Merseyside Integrated Care Board (ICB), which commissions end-of-life care in Liverpool, to agree a "sustainable long-term plan" for the unit's future.

A large group of campaigners gathered outside the unit on Saturday afternoon and held placards criticising Marie Curie for not "taking up our offer" to fundraise for the unit.

Some wore yellow t-shirts with the slogans "Save our Hospice" and "Save our Ward".

Independent Liverpool councillor Lucy Williams, who attended a protest at the unit on Saturday, told the BBC: "It's been a year since they closed their doors to the inpatient unit and it's been a year that they've continued to receive funding from the ICB.

"So we're here today to ask where has that money gone and why haven't they delivered that service that they're getting commissioned to provide."

Williams worked at the hospice as a palliative care nurse for two years, and said: "People's relatives and loved ones have died here and a lot of them have committed their time to fundraising for this hospice.

"We found out over this year that money doesn't come to this hospice, it goes into a national pot - so throughout the closure this fundraising has continued and people haven't been aware that the inpatient unit in Liverpool has been closed."

Williams said an "easy" resolution was to immediately re-open the ward.

She said: "They're receiving the funding to have the ward open, surely they can have one or two beds? That's better than none at all.

"So get the ward open and if Marie Curie aren't competent to provide the service then the ICB need to commission someone who is."

The Marie Curie spokesperson said the charity hoped to reach an agreement with the NHS integrated care board "as soon as possible".

While admissions to the inpatient unit "had been paused", the hospice had remained open and was providing palliative and end of life care to "thousands of people in Liverpool in different ways", they added.

The spokesperson said the ICB was aware its funding was being used to provide these services.

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