An emergency meeting has been called by local councillors to stop the closure of the Woolton, Liverpool Marie Curie hospice.

The 26-bed unit where people with terminal illnesses are supported and cared for in their final weeks and days has been closed ‘temporarily’ since July 2024, it was reported in The Guide Liverpool.

But now concerns are growing it will not re-open after staff were informed ‘it has no future’, it is claimed.

Independent councillor for Garston, Lucy Williams, said that the news leaves families, patients and staff facing an uncertain future – and raises serious concerns about the impact on end-of-life care in the area.

“For it to close would be shameful, and a devastating loss to our community,” she said.
Lucy Williams is one of four councillors speaking urgently with staff this evening, 18 February 2025. Much Woolton & Hunts Cross Lib Dem Cllr Josie Mullen, and leader and deputy leaders of Liverpool Community Independents Group Cllrs Alan Gibbons and Sam Gorst will be joining her.

She said to The Guide Liverpool that it will be followed by a plan of action to save the in-patient unit.
Cllr Williams added: “The in-patient ward has been closed since last summer and the staff are in limbo while Marie Curie decides whether or not they are going to reopen it.

“We are meeting with staff who have approached us to help them to listen to their concerns and come up with some actions together and get public support.

“We want to put pressure on Marie Curie to reopen the unit and offer staff some clarity about whether they are going to have a job at the end of March and provide this facility for the community.

“The staff have been really patient but over the last couple of weeks they have become increasingly concerned that the focus is going to be on community care rather than in-patient care.”

Protest against closure

Earlier in February, hundreds of people attended a protest against the closure of the hospice.
At the time, it was reported on the BBC that the charity said there has been “no decision made about the long-term future” of the unit.

At a protest outside the hospice on Saturday many people held up pictures of loved ones who had died, with some saying they were "angry" about the current state of uncertainty.

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