Widow backs Downing Street petition to save Cambridge hospice beds
Vivien Biggs' husband was looked after by the hospice in his final days
A widow has said her late husband may not have died in the way he did had it not been for a Cambridge hospice.
Nine beds at the Arthur Rank Hospice are at risk of being lost due to NHS funding cuts, only if £829,000 cannot be raised in five months' time.
Vivien Biggs' husband Ruston was cared for by the hospice in his final days battling neuroendocrine cancer in November last year.
"He was very frightened of having to die in hospital because he'd spent spells there where it's very busy, little privacy, only two visitors at a time, no children are allowed to go and visit," Vivien said.
"If he'd been in hospital, it would've been a very different story."
The petition
Since the start of October, a petition backed by Cambridgeshire's Liberal Democrat MPs Pippa Heylings, Charlotte Cane and Ian Sollom to save the nine beds has been signed more than 15,500 times.
Vivien - alongside Ms Heylings, Ms Cane, Mr Sollom and others who've had an experience with the Arthur Rank Hospice - is due to hand that petition into Downing Street today.
In a joint statement, the MPs said they want the Government to "restore the funding deficit to ensure all beds at the Arthur Rank Hospice remain open and to properly roll out nationally the move from hospital to community care with hospices and GPs at its heart."
The MPs added they will "not let a funding failure deny patients and their families the dignity and support they deserve."
We've approached the Government for comment.
Since 2017, the hospice - which has 21 beds - has been looking after patients from Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge who would otherwise be cared for in the hospital itself.
But the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) has decided to pull the funding next year after undertaking what it said an "affordability and value for money assessment.
“This included the beds we have been funding at Arthur Rank Hospice in Cambridge," a CUH spokesperson said.
“After taking into account the underutilisation of these beds and the changing model of palliative care we need to provide at the hospital, we took the difficult decision to end the contract."
The spokesperson added CUH remains "committed to collaborating with the Integrated Care Board and wider system to ensure highly quality, appropriate and accessible palliative care provision is maintained across the community.”
Sharon Allen, CEO at the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, has said the removal of funding "has truly devastated us all", and warned jobs could be lost because of the move.
As well as going into the hospice, Ruston - a father, grandfather and a University of Cambridge graduate - received end-of-life care from the charity at home having gone into hospital at different times during his diagnosis.
Vivien told us any funding cuts would be "inconceivable.
"The support they gave us transformed that experience in every way, so I'm hopeful that decisions will be made to ensure the hospice can continue as it is or be enhanced," she added.
"You need people who understand what the hell you're going through because it is hell, and without that support, I don't know how you cope."