CAMPAIGNERS have called for widespread changes at Bury Hospice to secure its services for the future .

Cllr James Frith has overseen the publication of a report, Saving Bury Hospice Together, which calls on the hospice to restore the public’s trust by establishing new governance, and publishing its fundraising and financial plans.

The five-point report, which was revealed at a public meeting at Manna House in Bury on Monday, urges bosses at the 12-bed £5 million facility to consider using the six beds currently empty for wider care.

At the meeting, Cllr Frith told a 40-strong audience: “This proposal outlines a clear plan of action following extensive consultation with more than 7,000 Bury residents, healthcare professionals, NHS Bury, Pennine Care, Bury carers, hospice staff past and present and hospice patients and their families.

“The funding problems the hospice faces from outside pressures have not been helped by the approach taken by its senior management.

“An apparent lack of new revenue sources, no principal fundraiser for much of 2014, and an arm’s-length approach from its leadership to dealing with the town’s concerns have all kept it at a disadvantage.

“These proposals prepare the hospice well to compete and receive contractual work to stay open at full capacity for the future, and the approach could provide much-needed three-year funding commitments if adopted.”

The hospice moved from its previous base in Dumers Lane, Radcliffe, to its state-of-the-art Bury base in March 2013, after a long funding campaign.

In July, the Bury Times reported only half of the beds at the new site were open and the hospice was falling behind the £3 million a year needed to keep it running.

In the same month, Cllr Frith, who is Labour’s prospective parliamentary candidate for Bury North, launched his Save Bury Hospice campaign.

In August, Bury Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) announced it would give the hospice an extra £124,000 cash lifeline to pay for six over night beds, Hospice at Home and day care services until this March.

A week after this was announced, a swathe of fresh redundancies at the hospice were revealed including the loss of nurses and a complementary therapist.

The meeting on Monday was chaired by Labour MP Liz Kendall, shadow minister for care and older people, and hospice nurse Anne Riley.

Following the report’s launch, Dr Kiran Patel, chairman and clinical lead for NHS Bury CCG, said the CCG had no objections to the report and had already been working with the hospice on some of the points raised.

He said: “Our clinicians are currently reviewing the borough’s end-of-life care pathwa y and it is an - ticipated Bury Hospice will be commissioned to pro vide palliative care .

“Historically, the hospice’s funding has been awarded in yearly grants but moving forward the CCG would like it to bid for a formal NHS contract in order for us to monitor more effectively how the funding is spent, and provide more transparency.”

In his report Cllr Frith also called for a fair deal for Bury CCG , currently facing under-funding of £20 million a year.

In February last year, health bosses revealed Bury CCG was expected to be underfunded by £60 million for the three financial years up to March 2016.

But Dr Patel said, while the CCG is still the most underfunded in the north of England, extra money it is due to receive this April will ease the pressure.

He said: “A significant settlement of money from the NHS is going to be weighted in favour of the most underfunded CCGs, and therefore will reduce our shortfall.”

The Bury Times understands the CCG is encouraging Pennine Acute NHS Foundation Trust and Pen nine Care to work with the hospice on using some of the empty space.

Michael McCourt, chief executive for Pennine Care, said: “Hospices are a key part of any local community and we welcome the opportunity to work closely with the CCG, Bury Council and partners to ensure Bury Hospice has a successful future in the heart of the town.”

No representative from the senior management or trustees of the hospice was present at the meeting but bosses said they were not invited or consulted on the report.

In a statement Jacqui Comber, chief executive of Bury Hospice, said: “Our aim is to make sure that every one with a life-limiting or terminal condition gets the very best care, and we believe hospices are critical to achie ving this.

“Bury Hospice offers care to people with life-limiting or terminal conditions.

“Bury Hospice’s board of trustees is made up of members of Bury’s community. We are volunteers who come from all walks of life.

“Our roles include responsibility for the governance of Bury Hospice, ensuring its compliance with the law and with statutory bodies’ standards and guidelines.

“We are also responsible for the strategic direction of Bury Hospice.

“The board is always interested in identifying dynamic and proactive trustees to join the team and serve the people of Bury.

“We are looking for trustees and any one who is interested should please contact Jacqui Comber for an information pack.

“The reason there was no representation from either management or trustees is that we were not in vited to the meeting on Monday and we re not consulted on the report.

“Bury Hospice trustees’ responsibilities are for Bury Hospice only – Grace’s Place has its own board of trustees.

“We do not ha ve an AGM as Bury Hospice is a charity and as such has no members to attend an AGM.

“However, as we have said in the past, we will be holding a series of open evenings.

“The hospice finances are available from Companies House, and our fundraising plans will be published on our website.

“We already bid for wider services through the tendering process as they become available, and we are working in collaboration with other partners to look at new services.”

THE main five points of the Saving Bury Hospice Together report, headed “A public proposal to sustain Bury Hospice for the future, for all”, are:

  • To secure a fair deal for NHS Bury, which is currently underfunded by £20 million a year, from the government by signing a petition at FairDeal4Bury.com.
  • To urge the hospice to restore trust in its governance and improve transparency by establishing a board of directors whose responsibilities within Bury only include the hospice. It also calls for a public trustee to be elected to represent the people of Bury on the board, and asks the hospice to hold an pub lic annual ge neral meeting (AGM).
  • For the hospice to periodically publish public fundraising plans. The report states financial plans should also be made pub licly av ailab le to ensure donations in good faith reach their intended cause.
  • For the hospice to allocate 50 per cent of its capacity – the beds that are currently empty – to provide a wider range of care. This could include non-cancer, end of life and quality of life care, Motor Neurone Disease treatment, a step-down service from hospital and mental and social health services. It also asks the hospice to increase its hospice at home services.
  • To urge the hospice to bid for a wider range of services in order to receive three-year NHS funding contracts, by first demonstrating the changes listed above have been made.