How you can join campaigners at St Clare's rally in a final plea to bring palliative care back to Jarrow

Campaigners who launched an urgent petition to bring end-of-life care back to the former St Clare’s building on Primrose Terrace are organising a rally in a bid to show health chiefs they mean business.

The petition set up by former nurse, Kay Smith has gathered 13,500 signatures from South Tyneside residents in the last few weeks and is due to be delivered to Downing Street imminently.

Now Kay is aiming to get 1,000 supporters to attend a ‘mass rally’, going by the name of the Peoples Choice Palliative Care Rally at the former St Clare’s Hospice site on Saturday, March 21 at 11am.

They will be joined by local MPs Emma Lewell-Buck and Kate Osborne, who recently called on the government to take “urgent steps” to save palliative care in Jarrow.

St Clare’s closed its doors in January 2019 after more than 30 years and since then several grassroots campaigns have attempted to save it.

“We need to show the NHS just how passionate we are about bringing a hospice back to the St Clare's building,” said Kay.

“We don't want it at South Tyneside Hospital.”

She added: “I need us to make such a racket that they have to listen to us and not make the decision for us.

“Its our last big push before they make the decision.”

South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is unable to consider the 13,000 signatures as it comes less than six months after a previous petition was submitted.

Matt Brown, Executive Director of Operations at NHS South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group, commented: “We understand the strength of public feeling about the old hospice site and we are committed to providing the best palliative care that we possibly can.

“Since the hospice closed, hundreds of local people have helped us shape a new vision for end of life care, with more social care, nursing and palliative care for patients who prefer to die at home, as well as a new hospice.

“Less than 5% of deaths take place in hospices, with many more people preferring to spend their last days at home, or in a care home, so we need the best possible range of services for all our patients, whatever their circumstances.

“We are now working hard to make this vision a reality. We have taken steps to recruit extra nursing and social care support for patients in the community, and we are working to identify the best possible site for hospice care.

“This will need to be a calm and respectful space with a higher quality of medical care than the previous service, which struggled to recruit medical staff and was rated as inadequate by inspectors.

“It’s not as simple as just reopening the previous facility – we would be failing our patients if we rush to open a new service without making sure it’s in the right location to ensure high quality and consistent medical care for the long term.”