'Nowhere' for family to go after hospice closure

Stephanie Perry said staff at Zoe's Place had become "second family"

The mother of a toddler says the loss of a baby hospice in Liverpool will be a "devastating blow" to the families who use it.

Stephanie Perry's three-year-old daughter, Robyn, visits Zoe's Place in West Derby twice a week with Mrs Perry saying the staff had become a "second family".

The charity announced that the hospice will close at the end of the year after a planned move to a new site nearby fell through.

The trustees said the lease on the current building on Yew Tree Lane is due to expire in nine months and that the charity would work with parents to find alternative support.

The hospice had submitted plans for a new £3.5m hospice near Alder Hey Children's Hospital

Since 1995, Zoe’s Place has been the only hospice for babies and children - up to the age of five - who have life-limiting and complex conditions.

Mrs Perry told BBC Radio Merseyside she was "devastated and emotional" to hear the news in a phone call on Monday.

"There's nowhere else we can take our children, our babies, where they're looked after, where they're safe and that we trust," she said.

"You build that trust up and they become your second family."

Mrs Perry, whose daughter was born with the genetic condition spina bifida, said they had used the service for 18 months and it had helped Robyn "come out of her shell".

She tearfully recounted how her daughter gets excited when she sees the teddy bear logo near the hospice's driveway and shouts "bear".

"I don't think people are going to realise how much it's going to mean to all the families," she said.

'Hoping for a miracle'

Describing the staff as "amazing", she added: "Our babies deserve this and they don't deserve to have this taken away from them.

"There are so many families that rely on them the same that we do."

She said she was "hoping for a miracle" before the doors shut for good.

The charity said it would work with parents to find alternative support and discussions had been held with Claire House, in Bebington, Wirral, which also has a children’s hospice, as well as NHS services.

Zoe’s Place had hoped to build a new £3.5m hospice in Hayman’s Green, near Alder Hey Children's Hospital, and planning permission was granted in September.

In a planning committee meeting, an agent for the charity told councillors the existing site was "not fit for purpose".

However, a statement from the trustees on Tuesday said: "The time taken to get planning permission has left insufficient time to construct the building.

"In addition, a significant rise in the projected costs and the challenge of raising funding in the current economic climate means there are insufficient funds available."

Liverpool Council said planning permission had been granted and was awaiting "legal agreement" with the applicant.

The BBC has asked the charity to clarify why the lease on the current building cannot be extended further.