Today Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice has announced a proposal to cease offering services from its children’s hospice facility at Grace’s Place in Bury. Forget Me Not is currently consulting with staff, volunteers and families on this proposal. It’s a very sad day for families, staff and volunteers and all those connected with Grace’s Place.
Together for Short Lives acknowledges that there are a range of reasons why Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice has taken steps to make this difficult proposal, including rising costs of providing high quality care, an uncertain climate for fundraising and retail and a challenging statutory funding environment for children’s hospice and palliative care services.
Together for Short Lives’ CEO Andy Fletcher said:
“Today is a sad day for Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice at Grace’s Place, for the staff, volunteers and families receiving day care and support at Grace’s Place. I know this has been a very difficult decision to take and is designed to safeguard the long-term sustainability of Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.
Their first priority now is to continue to provide care and support to the children and families that receive day care support at Grace’s Place, making sure that they get the care they need via their Huddersfield children’s hospice and by working in partnership with other children’s hospices across Greater Manchester. Their ambition is to make sure families continue to get the lifeline care they need now and in the future.
Local commissioning of children’s hospices across England has, for many years, been patchy and inconsistent. Which is why we have called on government to increase funding as an urgent priority to ensure children and families get the support they need”.
