Letters special: Closure of Bristol's St Peter's Hospice
As individuals none of us alone are able to set up and run a hospice and for the past 30 years or so we have been grateful to be able to pool our money and time together and entrust them to you for the running of our wonderful haven in Knowle.
Please do not take it away from us.
At the very least, please give yourselves and Knowle Hospice more time than your extremely hasty action plan is allowing.
As you will be aware, our country is in the process of changing the traditional paths of end of life care and is moving toward a new strategy centred on patient wishes.
This is surely going to impact on the need for hospice care. (And it is surely also going to impact on the funding of hospice care.)
Around 65 per cent of the population say that they would prefer to die at home rather than in hospital, and in-patient hospice respite can be absolutely invaluable in facilitating these wishes, providing security, expertise, understanding and comfort during those periods when "things get too much" for either the patient or for family and friends looking after them.
We believe that a hospice in South Bristol is not only necessary but that the need for it will increase, not decrease – and that, having lost our current site, to build a new hospice in south Bristol would cost vastly more than the £300,000 needed to repair the Knowle building.
St Peter's Hospice is a charity, not a business. We urge you to launch an emergency appeal to raise funds to keep St Peter's Hospice in Knowle open.
It is much-loved for the excellent care it provides for not only patients but also their friends and relatives. People throughout our city and surrounding area care about it very much and would like the opportunity to contribute towards saving it.
Mary-Jane Thornton, (member of Save Our Hospice), Knowle.
I have been following the correspondence in the Evening Post, regarding the closure of the Knowle hospice with interest.
It was some years ago and following the death of my neighbour in St Peter's that I decided to become a friend of the hospice and make a monthly donation.
The hospice movement is unique in providing a level of care to the terminally ill which is unsurpassed.
However it should be remembered that the vast number of the terminally ill do not have the privilege of ending their days in the care of the hospice.
It would therefore seem to me that there is a need for more, not less hospice beds, from your letters it would seem obvious where the opinions of your readers lie.
About two years ago, St Peter's issued an appeal to fund extra staff and beds and as I was impressed by the commitment of the hospice, I increased my monthly donation by 50 per cent.
I was therefore surprised to receive the announcement from the latest chief executive regarding the closure of Knowle – in my opinion it was a cold, uncaring business letter which seemed to lack any understanding of what the hospice is about.
As we are about to see a dramatic reduction in beds I am left wondering why should I continue to pay my increased contribution?
It seems to me that the people of Bristol love their hospice and would provide the funds to keep Knowle open but the present chief executive does not want that and in common with the decisions on Frenchay hospital, the "experts" know better than the people.
I for one am reluctantly considering transferring my donations elsewhere if the closure goes ahead. I have no idea what salary St Peter's pay their chief executive but I can't help wondering how many beds it would fund. I know which option I would prefer.
John Drinkwater, By email.
Dr Fox of the St John's Lane Health Centre speaks probably for hundreds, if not thousands, of Bristolians when he says the closure of St Peter's Hospice at Knowle will be a major loss to the south Bristol community.
How far could that grossly overpriced consultancy job on a new name for the Museum of Bristol have financed the salvation of that institution?
Then add the £10 million or so, earmarked from NHS funding to promote fluoridation in our area – an unethical and arguably illegal interference with our right not to be compulsorily treated.
And if anyone in politics and the health services wishes to argue about kiddies' tooth decay, how does preserving, on average, half a tooth per child per year – teeth soon to be lost anyway as children grow up – stack up against the reputation of human love, care and compassion offered to the terminally ill? In this respect, St Peter's represents the gold standard; an immeasurable asset to our sick and their loved ones. Yet another failed test of our convoluted priorities.
Bernard J Seward, Bristol.
The matter of whether St Peter's Hospice in Knowle should close fully deserves the whole page report given to it recently ("Lamenting St Peter's to shut plan", September 23).
Local people gathered a large number of petition signatures quickly and worked hard to highlight the issue and get St Peter's senior management to take full notice of them.
As a very active member of Save Our Hospice, I know the group has been through all the reasons given by the senior management for closing the Knowle hospice in meetings with St Peters and with the Bristol NHS (who still have questions to ask of St Peter's I hope). Their reasons don't stack up.
I don't feel that the Brentry hospice site has sufficient or totally suitable facilities – either in scale or in nature – and it's not local.
Whilst availability of care in south Bristol is important, moving some services to Whitchurch Health Centre is hardly a replacement for the Knowle hospice ("Work of care charity set to continue from clinic", September 23).
As local GP Dr Chris Fox says, there will always be people who want or need to die in a hospice ("Community needs hospice, says GP", September 23).
The Bristol NHS have a target of reducing numbers dying in hospital by 10 per cent per year.
There is far too much uncertainty about how numbers will work out in the coming years to now reduce hospice capacity. It might emerge that we need greater capacity than we currently have.
What has bothered me more than anything is the rapid nature of the decision and the lack of broad-based consultation with all stakeholders.
At a minimum, St Peter's should postpone any final decision in order to have wider discussions with the local community.
Dr Chris Fox, a local GP, is one amongst several GP supporters who is incensed by the fact that he knew nothing of the closure decision.
Despite the very strong feelings in Save Our Hospice, we have always taken an interest-based approach to this matter; we want what is the best outcome for everyone.
In contrast, the attitude of St Peter's senior management has been very positional.
Surely they should recognise that any major change in the way they work should be the subject of broad and fully informed discussion before final decisions?
The letters page of the Post in recent weeks has featured many on keeping St Peter's in Knowle.
There is little or no support for closure. I hope St Peter's are taking a look over the letters and reviewing their rigid stance.
Glenn Vowles, Knowle.
Where are Bristol's Secret Millionaires?
After watching the recent TV coverage of Save Our Hospice last week and reading all the letters in a recent paper, I find myself compelled to add my own comments.
Having had experiences in both volunteering at St Peter's Brentry, and having lost my mother earlier this year at St Peter's Knowle, I feel a great sense of shame at the prospect of losing such a wonderful, supportive, caring facility that south Bristol still needs.
It's OK to say that the care will still be given by both community nursing support from St Peter's, but what about patients who need more than this and have to be admitted to Brentry?
Families on low income may not have the necessary means to travel to the other side of the city to visit their terminally ill relatives. We still need a hospice for this side of Bristol.
Where, oh where, are south Bristol Secret Millionaires?
Surely there are some out there who could put their hands on the much-needed funds (I'm sure Mr Brown would give some tax relief for charity) to enable us to "Save Our Hospice".
The small town of Portishead has recently been able to raise the cash to save their outdoor pool. Surely a city as large as Bristol could find the funds to save our hospice.
Sandra Lathrope, Address supplied.
Something needs to be done about the city's congested streets
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