Published: Wednesday, 28th May, 2008 10:05
Fight for the hospice
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I have been running a campaign to save 30 beds of the 60 bed St Margaret’s Hospice since October 2007 and have well over 90,000 hand written signatures as well as 1,641 signatures online.
My mother was expected to die last year but still lives at the hospice through its wonderful care and sheer determination on her part.
Imagine my shock and horror to hear that the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board intended to remove this type of patient from the care of the hospice and move them, in April 2009, to Blawarthill Hospital, in Yoker.
Blawarthill Hospital will be rebuilt under a Private Finance Initiative with the health board, Glasgow City Council and Southern Cross (a private company).
The health board tried to have this decision rubber stamped at the last board meeting on April 15, however most of the board members appeared to only just have heard of the implications the move will have on the hospice, and they managed to have the vote delayed until the next board meeting on June 24.
I have submitted a five page petition to the Petitions committee at the Scottish Government with the help of my MSP Des McNulty, and was allowed to give an opening speech and answer questions for half an hour in December last year in respect of this petition.
The debate went on for over an hour and I was allowed to give an impromptu speech to close, apparently this was unique in overrun time.
I managed to get cross party support and went back to the Scottish Parliament on May 27 to hear them discuss the written submissions, this was the third time it has come up before the committee.
I have also been invited to go down to 10 Downing Street on June 4 to deliver my petition on a humanitarian level.
For more information, visit www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/petitions/pdfs/PE1105.pdf or www.gopetition.com/online/14702.html.
Marjorie McCance, Milngavie
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