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24/7 Advice & Support | 020 3824 1268

Thursday 26th September 2019

The Board of Trustees is pleased to provide a further update from Hillingdon CCG of the progression towards the transfer of services and reopening of the inpatient hospice.
We can also advise the builders are now on site.

Changes to arrangements for palliative care – Michael Sobell House and Mount Vernon Hospital

We are writing to advise you on the latest developments on palliative care services in Hillingdon.

In June 2018, the palliative in-patient service at Mount Vernon was relocated from the Michael Sobell House to Wards 10 and 11 at the hospital. This change was due to concerns about the condition of the in-patient suites and estate, which was well loved but needed updating. Since then, organisations involved in the Michael Sobell House hospice service have been working together to ensure the Day Centre remains open to patients while plans were developed to deliver a refreshed palliative care service in the Michael Sobell House, including refurbishing the inpatient suites.

We are pleased to confirm that construction works will soon begin that will enable in-patient hospice care services to come back to the Michael Sobell House. Funding for this development will be provided by Michael Sobell Hospice Charity. The works are intended to begin in September 2019 and anticipated to be completed around the end of November 2019. We look forward to opening the refurbished suites in December 2019 – all things going to plan!

As part of our joint working, we are pleased to confirm that Harlington Hospice have been appointed to take on the Michael Sobell House hopsice clinical inpatient service as well as the Day Centre support care. The Day Centre support care is planned to transition to Harlington Hospice in October 2019, whilst the clinical inpatient service will transition in December 2019 once the inpatient suites are refurbished, pending successful completion and again – all things going to plan! We have a great team working to deliver the service transition as quickly and effectively as possible to reinstate the hospice service from Michael Sobell House that patients have known for many years.

In the interim, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust will continue to provide a high quality clinical inpatient service and Day Centre care support on the Mount Vernon site to support a managed service transition.

We would especially like to recognise the Michael Sobell Hospice Charity (formerly The Friends of Michael Sobell House), its volunteer network, supporters, and patrons who have worked tirelessly since the beginning of the service changes in June 2018 to promote and support with charitable funding the future of the Michael Sobell House hospice service. Patients,  friends and family, and the staff involved in the services have shown great patience during this time. Their on-going support has been critical to ensuring the future of Michael Sobell Hospice and we would like to thank them for it.

We trust that you will agree that this is good news for Hillingdon, local residents We look forward to having a long and fruitful relationship with the Harlington Hospice Charity who have been appointed to run the hospice.

We will write to you again when we have a further update and of course the much anticipated opening day.

In the meantime if you have any questions about the Michael Sobell House hospice service that has been re-commissioned by Hillingdon CCG, please do not hesitate to contact the CCG at HILLCCG.HCCGCommunications@nhs.net, or 01895 203000, quoting “Michael Sobell Hospice Query”.

Matron Carol stands with a woman in a blue sari in our gardens at Lansdowne House

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