Grace's Place children's hospice could close just months after opening due to funding shortfall

Children’s hospice Grace’s Place, which serves Bury, Rochdale and Oldham, may have to close due to a lack of funding, despite only opening in January this year.

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, a pioneering charity based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, opened the doors of Grace’s Place to children across Bury, Oldham and Rochdale earlier this year.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/125315/children%E2%80%99s-hospice-grace%E2%80%99s-place-opens

However, Luen Thompson, Chief Executive of Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, has now said in a statement that Grace’s Place had begun a consultation to close the service after rising costs have left the charity in 'an unsustainable position'.

She said: “It is with deep regret that I have to announce that we have begun a consultation with our staff on a proposal to close our children’s hospice service at Grace’s Place in Bury.

“Despite the tremendous goodwill and support Grace’s Place has received from the local community, the costs of providing high quality care are rising and exceed the funds we are able to raise. Combined with insufficient funding from the NHS, we have had to make up the shortfall from depleting reserves – a position which is not sustainable long-term.

“I recognise that this news will be devastating for the families we support at Grace’s Place, our staff and volunteers and our supporters. We are doing, and will continue to do, everything we can to minimise the impact this will have.”

A shortfall of £56,000 means the hospice has only been able to open between Wednesdays and Fridays, with alternate Saturdays for day-care only.

A full hospice service is estimated to cost around £1.2m every year.

Grace’s Place was originally planned to open in the autumn of 2014, having refurbished the former Bury Hospice site on Dumers Lane, Radcliffe, to serve as a children’s hospice.

The majority of the cost of redeveloping the building was met by a £507,000 grant from the Department of Health. Plans for the hospice to open faltered after the charity fell into financial difficulty due to the cost of the building works, before the building company donated the outstanding debt.

Originally set up as a partnership between Bury Hospice and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, Grace’s Place was taken over by Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice, a pioneering charity based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in July 2017.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/110855/children-to-benefit-from-the-opening-of-grace%E2%80%99s-place

There are around 650 children in the Bury, Oldham and Rochdale area who live with life-shortening conditions. The lack of a local children’s hospice had meant that the vast majority of these families had to go further afield to access the specialist care and support they so badly need.

Grace’s Place currently cares for 17 families for whom alternative care arrangements are being made, Ms Thompson says.

Ms Thompson said, should the proposal go ahead, “there would, regrettably, be significant job losses” as “all members of staff at Grace’s Place have been placed ‘at risk’.”

She added that staff “would be supported to find suitable alternative employment” either within Forget Me Not or externally.

Services and staff at the Huddersfield hospice, Russell House, are not affected by this proposal.

Ms Thompson continued: “We do not underestimate the distress that the proposed closure of Grace’s Place will cause to families and deeply regret causing them any uncertainty and upset.

“If this proposal goes ahead, all the children and families we currently care for will receive a personalised review and support to move on to something different that will meet their needs.

“We are also creating a transport fund to enable families on our current caseload to access care and support either at our other hospice, Russell House in Huddersfield, or at other children’s hospices in the Greater Manchester area.

“All money raised in aid of Grace’s Place has been spent in either the initial set-up of the hospice or on the care delivered to the 67 families that we have worked with so far.

“We thank our supporters for the commitment they have shown in trying to help us to establish a much-needed service for the 650 children in North Manchester living with life-shortening conditions.

“Supporters who are still fundraising for Grace’s Place or have yet to pay over funds already raised can continue to do so: this money will be ring-fenced in our transport fund, ensuring that families who wish to use services at different locations are not disadvantaged.”