For nearly 20 years, Claire House Children’s Hospice has been supporting families with seriously and terminally ill children across Merseyside, Cheshire and the surrounding counties.
What started off as the dream of one family, Chris and Bobby Cain, after the death of their 10-year-old daughter Claire in 1989, has grown to support over 400 families a year.
But now plans are well underway for Claire House to reach out to more families with a second hospice site, based in the West Derby area of Liverpool.
“For every seriously and terminally ill child in Liverpool that Claire House currently reaches, there’s another we can’t. And for the first time in our history, demand means we are occasionally being forced to cancel stays for families who have booked them in advance, to focus on emergency care. We want to change that,” explains Claire House CEO David Pastor, who hopes that one day Claire House will be able to support every single child and family who needs it.
“We’ve seen a 40% increase in the number of children and young people we look after in the past four years and over half of these children come from North of the Mersey so opening a new site in the city makes perfect sense.”
Situated off Honey’s Green Lane, near Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, the new hospice site was previously occupied by The Carmelite Order of Nuns for over 100 years. When they decided to relocate to a quieter area of the city, the sisters wanted to ensure the building was left to good use and its proposed reincarnation fitted with their values.
“Whilst we know this is going to be a lengthy process, to bring the new hospice to life in the way we want to, we’re delighted to have been given the opportunity to continue the legacy of this amazing site and use it to provide more support to families who need it.” David continues.
Whilst the long-term ambition is to turn the site into a completely new hospice, the project is still in its early stages, as Head of Estates and Facilities Bruce Dodd explains, “It will take us time to raise the money needed to build an entirely new hospice but we feel it is important to start offering more, desperately needed services as soon as possible. Initial plans are that we’ll welcome day care, holistic therapies, Hospice to Home support and counselling on site in 2017.
“This means families in Liverpool currently accessing these services on our Wirral site will have shorter, cheaper and less difficult journeys. They’ll also hopefully be able to access our services more often and for longer, with parents living in Liverpool not having to travel up to an hour to attend a two-hour Parents and Tots class or have a counselling session.”
Having successfully applied for a ‘change of use’ for the monastery in September 2016, work has been getting underway with volunteers and contractors clearing the ground and preparing the interiors.
“This summer we’ll also be converting some of the space into offices for our fundraising, Hospice to Home and counselling teams, meaning they’ll be able to spend more time in the communities we’re already working with, providing the very best support to Liverpool families that need it,” says Bruce.
David continues, “We have identified a real need for a children’s hospice in Liverpool to provide as much care to as many families as possible. The additional site will also allow us to enhance our services in our original Wirral site, so every single family we care for will receive the highest quality of care, whenever and wherever they need it.
“And whilst we’re a long way from achieving our ambitious plans, including obtaining full planning permission for all we want to do to the building, we’re making real headway.
“But we can’t do all this alone. We need the local community and Claire House supporters to get behind our plans and continue to support both our new venture in Liverpool and all the work we’re going to continue to do across the region. We’re excited for what the future holds and to work with our supporters to ensure no family in our region has to face their journey alone.”
If you’d like more details of our plans for a new Claire House site in Liverpool or to offer your support to the project, please call 0151 343 0883 for more information.
