'Why Cransley Hospice is so important...we have to help it survive'

I don’t want you to forget today’s topic and, because I won’t, I first need to draw on a simple example from my medical past.

An ‘acute’ illness often has a severe and sudden onset; it may change or worsen rapidly. It generally gets better.

A ‘chronic’ condition is generally long-standing and may develop and worsen over time. It is always there and difficult to forget; many of you will know that.

Bear these definitions in mind, because I don’t want you to forget what I am going to say.

The news is often acute, whether it be on television, radio, local or national news and social media.

It thrives on the acute, whatever that ‘acute’ is, be it murder, rape, a train or plane crash, whatever.

After a few days, the world and the news move on when something else happens.

From time to time, the media will focus on a broader subject – Covid or a General Election, as examples – or ‘chronic’ news, if you like; always present and at times difficult to forget.

Most news is not chronic, it moves on and gets forgotten.

But I don’t want you to forget what I have to say today, when the news and the world have moved on.

So what is it that is so important to me and, I believe, to you? It’s Cransley Hospice.

Just a few weeks ago, the news was ‘acute’ ... in this newspaper, and on local television and radio.

The lease on Cransley Hospice is due to run out in 2023, resulting in a massive risk to hospice care in the north of the county.

The coverage was very good, reminding us what hospice care is all about, and the importance of it remaining accessible and local.

The catchphrase or slogan was headlined, ‘Help us keep it local’. It’s short, snappy and to the point.

But other stories come along and the fear is this news is forgotten.

‘Help us keep it local’, five words that I don’t want you to forget.

I don’t want you to forget because I want Cransley Hospice to be there for you, stretching out its arms for you, the people of Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough and all the surrounding towns and villages.

I don’t want you to forget because I can remember when there was no Cransley; when getting help and admission if needed was

difficult and sometimes impossible.

I remember because I was the consultant who struggled with it all, when I – and the team – felt we were letting you down.

I could not bear it if that happened again, because, believe you me, it was difficult to bear.

Cransley Hospice cares for people with the serious and complex problems that are associated with life-limiting (terminal) disease, and the threat to its very existence is acute.

If we do nothing it will be terminal. There will be no Cransley. Please, please do not forget... and keep it local.