The meeting will take place virtually on Wednesday June 30, starting at 6.30pm. Click this link to join.

The meeting will be hosted by the Townlands Steering Group and will be chaired by the Rosalind Pearce, chief executive of the independent watchdog, Healthwatch Oxfordshire.

Presenting at the meeting and answering questions will be Pete McGrane, clinical director for community services at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, which run the hospital.

Joining him will be speakers from Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (OCCG) which is proposing to open two specialist beds at Wallingford Hospital in close collaboration with the Sue Ryder charity’s expert ‘Hospice at Home’ service. The charity’s Oxfordshire hub is at nearby Preston Crowmarsh.

OCCG has been working with Sue Ryder charity to increase the number of people being supported at home for their palliative care – about 20 people at any one time in South Oxfordshire.

However, some people with very complex end of life needs require inpatient care.

Following the closure of the Sue Ryder inpatient unit in Nettlebed in March 2020, people in South Oxfordshire needing this level of care have been admitted to the Duchess of Kent Hospice in Reading or Michael Sobell House in Oxford.

The proposal to provide a small number of specialist palliative beds at Wallingford Hospital would bring care closer to home for patients and their families and reduce the need for travel.