Petition to save hospice beds going to Number 10

The petition was launched three Cambridgeshire MPs, Pippa Heylings, Charlotte Cane and Ian Sollom

Families and MPs campaigning for beds to be saved at a hospice are to hand a petition with more than 15,000 signatures to Number 10 Downing Street.

Nine inpatient beds at the Cambridge-based Arthur Rank Hospice are expected to close after the trust that operates nearby Addenbrooke's Hospital removed funding.

The petition was started by three local Liberal Democrat MPs, who jointly said: "Everyone deserves access to excellent care right up until the very end of their lives."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it had made the "biggest investment in a generation - £100m – to improve hospice facilities".

Among those planning to attend Downing Street trip include those whose loved ones were cared for by the hospice.

The funding cuts, announced last month, amount to £829,000 a year and will reduce the hospice's inpatient unit bed capacity from 21 to 12.

Arthur Rank has stated the funding cut would mean "over 200 people a year will no longer have the option of being cared for in the comfort of our hospice and instead will sadly be dying in a busy hospital".

Hospice chief Sharon Allen said the funding cut had "truly devastated" the charity

The hospital has said there were plans to create its own dedicated hospice facility on site.

Lisa Smart, whose daughter was given inpatient and home support by the Arthur Rank before she died in 2021, aged 22, is part of the group set to hand in the petition.

She said: "They [the hospice staff] were very kind and thoughtful - this included arranging special times for us to share including a Mother's Day tea.

"They gave my daughter peaceful end-of-life care in a supportive environment and for that I am so grateful."

'Very aggressive'

The campaign has sparked a public row between the hospice and Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (CUH).

CUH's chief executive Roland Sinker said the hospice's "very aggressive" media campaign in had left a "bad taste in the mouth" and called the hospice beds "very poor value for money".

Hospice chief Sharon Allen said she was "perplexed" by the comments about its campaign.

"While this decision might generate financial savings in the short term, it simply means more patients will be stuck in hospital, using bed capacity," she said.

The petition was launched three Cambridgeshire MPs, Pippa Heylings, Charlotte Cane and Ian Sollom.

They said: "We are calling on his government to restore the funding deficit to ensure all 23 beds at the Arthur Rank Hospice remain open; to provide long-term, sustainable funding for the hospice's palliative care services; and to properly roll out nationally the move from hospital to community care, with hospices and GPs at its heart."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it had made the "biggest investment in a generation - £100m – to improve hospice facilities".

They added: "We recognise there is more to do and we are exploring how we can improve the access, quality and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end-of-life care in line with the 10-year health plan."