PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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A group of people from St Andrew's Church in Plymouth opened the St Luke's Hospice in a house in Dean Cross Road at Plymstock in January 1982. The Hospice had just seven beds. Staff occupied a portable cabin outside in the grounds. There was no funding for the Hospice so the staff worked without pay. A vehicle had been borrowed from the St John Ambulance Brigade but whenever it was needed the staff and volunteers had to beg from visitors to the local pubs or have whip-rounds amongst their relatives and friends. The medical director at that time was Doctor Sheila Cassidy. Despite scepticism from the local General Practitioners and other healthcare workers, within six months the Hospice was forced to convert the staff quarters into a three-bed ward to cope with the demand for places. In 1998 St Luke's moved into new quarters at Turnchapel, overlooking Mount Batten and the sea. There were twenty beds plus an outpatient unit and community services. Since then it has been enlarged twice. A further extension was being planned for 2006 when the Trustees of the disused Pearn Convalescent Home at Hartley, Plymouth, offered it to the Hospice. For the first eighteen months they paid no rent while the staff and volunteers renovated the Victorian building. It now houses their community services, outpatient's department, and lymphoedema treatment centre while they sub-let other rooms to the National Health Service for acupuncture clinics and district nurses. St Luke's Hospice is currently attempting to raise £250,000 in a bid to avert a cash crisis as it costs about £5 million a year to run. To make a donation please telephone 01752-492626 or visit www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/stlukes.
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