Shooting Star Children's Hospice

Written by Vincent Cable MP and published in Informer on Mon 12th Nov 2001

The ceremony last Friday, launching construction of the Shooting Star children's' hospice in Hampton, marked a significant achievement.

A group of volunteers led by the founder, Kate Turner, has mobilised over £3million, mostly through small donations and fundraising, and is over half way towards realising the target.

This achievement speaks volumes for the idealism and generosity of spirit of the volunteers and their supporters in the local community. It gives the lie to fashionable cynicism.

The project also comes to terms with an issue which is difficult to handle emotionally and was, in the past, swept under the carpet: how to care for young people with terminal and life threatening conditions.

These include cancers, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, and a wide range of rare metabolic disorders. Many more such children survive infancy, thanks to medical advances.

In the Shooting Star catchment area there are perhaps 3500 children with these illnesses and many require, care sometimes for years.

As a society, we have an ambiguous attitude towards caring responsibilities. Instinctively most of us want to lavish care on loved ones who are ill. But parents also need to work; often both have careers.

There are no longer support networks amongst extended families and neighbourhoods. Hospitals are reluctant to allow beds to be taken by those with incurable conditions.

Cash strapped council social services cannot provide 1 to 1 care. Few can afford private care. Caring is very hard emotionally and physically even with the support of friends, relatives and public services.

An alarmingly large number of couples caring for children simply crack up and their marriages break down. One of the main arguments for hospices is to provide respite and support to prevent this happening.

Governments have been very slow to respond to the needs of hospices especially for children. Financial support is very limited - only 8% of children hospice costs are NHS funded. In a debate I secured in parliament on this issue the government promised to do more. But it will not be enough and it is the volunteers in the community who will make hospices happen and flourish.