A closure-threatened Fife hospice has been saved for now.
The petition was organised by Fife’s Labour group and presented to the board by MP Gordon Brown before Christmas.
Fife Council’s Labour leader Alex Rowley stated: ”I want to thank the people all 18,000 of them who queued up in the streets to sign the petition. But I also want to warn that I believe those who put this idea forward in the first place will come back again.
”Therefore we must be vigilant and make sure we campaign to enhance hospice services in Fife and must make clear that never will they be allowed to shut down those hospices as long as there is a proven need.”
A paper before the board said the working group had recognised there would always be a need for access to specialist palliative care inpatient beds for patients with complex needs.
”The model and approach which the working group focused on also considered the provision of care where possible in community settings to support patient’s needs in their own homes or the place they call home,” it added.
”The group also considered the relocation of acute services from Queen Margaret Hospital Dunfermline to the new wing at Victoria Hospital Kirkcaldy and the implications for medical cover. It was agreed to review the admission criteria for the specialist palliative care units on both acute sites.
”As a result of this initial work the working group proposed not to make changes to the inpatient facilities currently provided in Queen Margaret Hospital.”
It continued that a further review of in-patient care and ”possible consolidation of inpatient numbers” was required.
A group set up to consider the future of palliative care services across the region has concluded no changes should be made to the inpatient facilities provided at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline.
The decision follows a furious backlash at the possible loss of care for the terminally ill and their families, with over 18,000 people signing a petition against the move.
The news has been welcomed by campaigners, who said they were pleased NHS Fife had listened to the views of the overwhelming majority of people across Fife. They warned, however, they would fight any attempt to revisit the plans.
Health bosses had proposed centralising palliative care at Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital in a bid to save £322,000. The closure of ward 16 was one of a number of options considered by the health board to find £13.5 million of savings.
However, alarmed politicians and campaigners in west Fife said it was vital to retain the local hospice so people could visit their loved ones in their dying days.
The issue was discussed again at a meeting of NHS Fife’s operational division on Wednesday, and board member John Winton said the immediate threat to hospice beds at Queen Margaret Hospital had been lifted.
”A consultant’s report on the proposal to close the Dunfermline hospice was damning and said it would lead to sub-optimal care for patients,” he said. ”Now they have put everything on ice and we can take it that in the medium term the beds will stay. The threat is they could try to resurrect it again at some point in the future. But round one is over.”
Continued…