Please urge as many people as possible to read this web page/posting and sign the petition:

AN URGENT REQUEST – To all supporters of St Anthony’s Hospital and St Raphael’s Hospice Re: http://sutcliffej.wix.com/save-st-raphaels

You may be aware that there is a proposal from the Daughters of the Cross, which is the parent charity of both St Anthony’s Hospital and St Raphael’s Hospice to sell the hospital to a commercial concern, and separate it from St Raphael’s Hospice. St Anthony’s Hospital supplies all the essential admin and support services to the hospice such as  IT, payroll, catering, to name but a few. The combined value of those services is over £1 million a year, for which the hospital  has never charged the hospice (being part of the same charity) If the two are separated, St Raphael’s will need to find an extra £1 million a year, just to pay for those existing services.

The local Member of Parliament for Sutton and Cheam, Mr Paul Burstow, raised the matter in the House of Commons on 16th July.  Because the Daughters of the Cross is a Catholic charity, it needs  approval from the Vatican to dispose of catholic church assets.  If St Anthony’s Hospital is sold commercially, it will also without doubt lose the catholic/Christian ethos that it has had for more than a century, and a sale will put the future of St Raphael’s Hospice into serious jeopardy.   Both Mr Burstow and I have asked the Vatican to block the sale of St Anthony’s Hospital, and support the creation of a new Catholic Charity, to take over the running of St Anthony’s Hospital and St Raphael’s Hospice combined, as at present, so that both may continue long into the future.   Paul Burstow MP has now established a website with links to two on-line petitions, one he is organising, the other which is on the 10 Downing Street Website asking the Prime Minister for support.   The website is http://sutcliffej.wix.com/save-st-raphaels  and I would ask you to please visit this, and add your name(s)  to BOTH petitions, and to ask your family, friends and  neighbours to do likewise.

Please feel free to pass this email on to others who you know, and ask for support.   Yours sincerely and thank you.   DR RON MCKERAN Chairman, St Raphael’s Hospice Advisory Committee