Strong local campaign defeats immediate threat to Queen Margaret Hospital hospice
A closure-threatened Fife hospice has been saved — for now.
Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline Dunfermline.
- By Claire Warrender
- Published in the Courier : 26.01.12
- Published online : 26.01.12 @ 05.18pm
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.''
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