Bristol hospice volunteers suspended

A group of volunteers at St Peter's Hospice claim they have been told their services are no longer required because they spoke out against planned changes.

The six people, who have given more than 40 years service between them, believe the action was taken because they wrote to the Post raising concerns about the closure of the charity's Knowle day hospice.

But St Peter's chief executive, Sandie Foxall-Smith, said they have only temporarily suspended the volunteers because they were upsetting patients.

As previously reported in the Post, St Peter's Hospice is looking at the possibility of relocating the Knowle site to Hengrove Park near the soon-to-be-built South Bristol Community Hospital because about £300,000 needs to be spent on the current building over the next 18 months to make it fit for purpose.

Ms Foxall-Smith said a feasibility study and review of services is being carried out to determine the best way forward for the hospice, but decisions are yet to be made.

Last week she said that the day hospice would be likely to close in September, with the service moving to Brentry, but charity trustees still need to approve it.

Laurie Dinham and five colleagues are worried about the effect a possible closure will have on patients at Knowle.

He said they received a phone call from the head of volunteers at St Peter's the day after posting letters about their concerns to the Post and the charity.

Mr Dinham, 74, speaking on behalf of the volunteers, said: "The head of volunteers said that our services were no longer required, with immediate effect.

"They said that we had gone against the rules that St Peter's had laid down.

"When we were told that the day hospice was going to close in September staff were told not to discuss it with anybody.

"Because we felt strongly that the day hospice should be saved, we decided that we, as volunteers, would do something about it and sent two letters."

Ms Foxall-Smith said the volunteers were a handful of hundreds of people who give their time to the charity for free.

She said she was concerned that these individuals had been speaking to cancer patients about the issue.

Ms Foxall-Smith said: "These volunteers were discussing the closure of Knowle openly with patients with cancer and it was fairly distressing for quite a number of patients.

"We have not made any firm decisions about anything yet and when this came to our attention via the medics, we had to take their advice.

"This is just a small group of volunteers.

"We have asked them to step down until they have had time to think about what they are doing."

Ms Foxall-Smith said a letter was sent to staff and volunteers explaining what was happening at Knowle but she understands that they are going through a "grieving process" because of their attachment to the building.

But she said she has also received letters from patients concerned that they will not be able to spend their last days at the hospice.

"We have still got beds and we are still active and open and we have got to try and minimise the distress," she said.

Mr Dinham, of Highridge, accepts that a purpose-built site would be good for St Peter's if it meets the needs of people in South Bristol, but he said the volunteers feel a day hospice needs to be part of such a plan and reassurances are needed.

He also said that he and other volunteers had not discussed the closure directly with patients.

Mr Dinham said: "Knowing St Peter's as I do and the amount of money I have raised for them, I cannot understand why an appeal had not been put out to save the day hospice, and save the Knowle site. An appeal was never made and this is what has aggrieved so many people.

"As far as the day hospice patients are concerned, they are going to arrive on Monday and will not know where we all are and it is going to be a shock."

"The head of services said it was our fault that patients are going to be confused but we don't go along with that."