A DAY centre for terminally ill people will not reopen because a hospital trust says there is “no demand”.
The day centre in the Margaret Centre, which provided palliative care for Whipps Cross University Hospital patients, in Leytonstone, was closed “temporarily” by the hospital trust in 2006 despite opposition from patients' relatives.
But the Guardian has learned that a consultation promised to be held on the future of the day centre was never carried out because there was “no demand for the service”, according the the trust, and now the centre will be used as a medical day unit for other patients.
An associate of the Margaret Centre wrote to the Guardian expressing disappointment about the change of use with no prior consultation and said many people raised funds for the centre “in good faith” that it would be used for palliative care only.
A Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust spokeswoman said the new medical unit will be used to for those who receive blood and other infusions on a regular basis.
And in the future, the trust also plans to use the new facility for Whipps Cross cancer patients who currently have to travel to Barts Hospital in central London for chemotherapy.
A spokeswoman said: “The trust can confirm that a decision was taken in 2006 not to reopen a palliative care day centre which also operated in the Margaret Centre due to lack of demand.
“However inpatients within the Margaret Centre do still receive palliative care on site including access to complementary therapies.
“Whipps Cross Hospital can also confirm that funds donated specifically for cancer or palliative care have in no way been used in appropriately.”
When the day centre first closed, former patients claimed poor attendance was down to a failure by Whipps Cross and the Primary Care Trust (PCT) to promote the unit, but the hospital trust insists it publicised the day centre in GP practices and hospitals and through PCT services.
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