‘No one could have done anything’ to prevent Jarrow hospice closure

‘No one could have done anything’ to prevent the closure of St Clare’s Hospice, health bosses have said.

The statement came as NHS chiefs from South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) heard an update on plans for the future of end of life care in the borough.

With local elections due in May, councillors used the meeting to repeat that the closure of the centre, in Promrose Terrace, Jarrow, was out of the council’s hands.

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Coun Stephen Dean said: “It’s a very important time for a lot of councillors and it’s a subject where there’s a lot of misconceptions.

“The council is trying to get out that it wasn’t involved in the closure, it was beyond our control.”

The troubled hospice was forced to shut in January after going into liquidation following years of money trouble.

A Care Quality Commission investigation forced it to close temporarily last year.

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Matt Brown, director of operations at South Tyneside CCG, said: “I’ve been very clear that no one could have done anything to prevent the closure.

“The council has no involvement in commissioning end of life care.”

James Harrison

James Harrison , Local Democracy Reporting Service