Rethink over plan to charge relatives staying at Royal Preston's 'hospital hotel'

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (LTH) had intended to introduce a £25-per-night fee for use of its Bowland House facility.

The hotel-style building is designed for families who want to remain close to dangerously sick loved ones. It is often used by the parents of premature or otherwise poorly babies and relatives of those patients nearing the end of their life.

The 12 public rooms are also open to outpatients undergoing a period of daily treatment - such as radiotherapy - and who may live a significant distance from the Sharoe Green Lane site.

Access to the high-quality accommodation is determined by clinical assessment and referral and has always been free - although LTH has requested that those staying there consider making a voluntary contribution to the trust's charity, if they are able to.

However, the trust recently announced the introduction of a flat charge - albeit one which was still heavily subsidised and amounted to far less than the price of an equivalent hotel room in the area.

The move - which came against the backdrop of a more than £50m deficit for LTH - prompted criticism from Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron, who said it amounted to “a tax on ill health” for cancer patients in his Cumbrian constituency, where there is no local radiotherapy facility.

However, LTH - one of only a few trusts to provide accommodation like Bowland House - said its own staff had also highlighted potential issues with the plan.

The trust’s charity is now assessing whether it can afford to provide further financial support for the operation of the facility.

An LTH spokesperson said of the rethink: “Bowland House is a facility that we are not funded for, but we want to continue to offer this as an option.

“We need to find a sustainable way of doing this and felt that we had achieved a reasonable compromise by asking the trust, our charitable funds and those who use it to make a contribution towards the running costs.

“However, our own clinicians and management teams have raised concerns about unintended consequences such as increased admissions, as well as concerns about patient experience and inequalities which have also been reflected back to us by other stakeholders.

“We have taken this on board, and we are considering alternative options, with our charity committee, having agreed to consider whether they can make an increased contribution.

“No patient has been charged for their stay to date and those with future bookings have been advised that they will not need to pay."

The Post understands that the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity would still welcome donations from users of Bowland House, in the same way it encourages any public contributions.

Jeanette Smalley, general manager of Preston-based charity Cancer Help, said that most cancer patients living in Central Lancashire were able to travel home from the Royal Preston each day after treatment.

However, she added: “Additional monies that people need to find when they are facing difficult health issues is a challenge, as not everyone has a generous sickness scheme. Doing things on a donation basis makes things easier as people can give what they can afford – but of course that doesn't provide a guaranteed income stream [to cover the cost of the service.”