Councillors clash over replacement for St Clare's Hospice as row rumbles on

Borough leaders have found themselves at odds with each other over whether to request the government review a planned overhaul of end of life care.
The now-closed St Clare's HospiceThe now-closed St Clare's Hospice
The now-closed St Clare's Hospice

Despite previous opposition to the proposals, many council chiefs have accepted the new service, but others have indicated they will continue to challenge the decision.

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“I think we should refer this to the secretary of state for health,” said Hebburn South councillor John McCabe.

“I’m elected to represent my community and they have demonstrated they think I should advocate for palliative care to [return to the former St Clare’s Hospice] Primrose Hill site, in Jarrow.”

He added: “I would like to refer this to the health secretary and allow some scrutiny from an independent body as to whether this is a viable service.”

Cllr McCabe, who also accepted there were ‘some good things’ in the planned new model for palliative care, was speaking at a meeting of South Tyneside Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Coordinating and Call-in Committee.

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Cllr McCabe was one of two members of the 11-strong panel to vote against accepting a report on the plans, which will see a new in-patient end of life care facility created at Haven Court, at the South Tyneside District Hospital site, in South Shields.

The borough has been without its own dedicated palliative care centre since the former St Clare’s Hospice collapsed into insolvency 20 months ago.

Of the other nine members of the committee who voted to accept the report from the South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), three said they did so ‘with reservations’.

Cllr Rob Dix, the panel’s chairman, said: “We referred the decision on [Jarrow’s Palmer Community Hospital] to the health secretary and it took a year to get a response.

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“In the meantime, we won’t have palliative care in South Tyneside and that is not acceptable to the people of South Tyneside.

“We’re all devastated about the [St Clare’s Hospice] Primrose Hill site, but we have to make a decision and we have to move on.”

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