LibDem MP Paul Burstow has asked the Vatican to intervene to stop a Catholic charity selling its hospital to a private company.

But the nuns who are planning to dispose of the hospital say the Vatican is already aware of their plans and have not raised any concerns.

St Anthony’s Private Hospital in Sutton (pictured) is owned by the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross of Liege charity, currently the UK's 64th biggest charity by income according to the Charity 100 Index, with average income over the last three years of just under £65m.

The charity’s trustees – six nuns with an average age of 80 – plan to sell the hospital as part of an ongoing strategy to pare down the charity's activities in recognition of their advancing age and their acceptance that they can’t go on forever.

However, because the hospital shares its site with St Raphael’s Hospice, also owned by the charity, local campaigners including MP Paul Burstow have raised fears about the future of the hospice.

They say that as the hospital provides all the back-office services to the hospice at no charge, the proposed sale of the hospital will mean that the hospice will have to find an additional £1m each year to cover the costs of these services.  This could put the very existence of the hospice at risk, they have claimed.

Even though the Daughters of the Cross has issued assurances that the hospice will remain under the charity’s ownership until it has achieved financial sustainability, Burstow and others are not satisfied.

Even actress June Whitfield has taken up the cause; she has written to the Daughters demanding explanations for their decisions.

Petition calls on Vatican to get involved

Burstow has collected almost 6,000 signatures to a petition calling on the Vatican to intervene in the case.

The petition contends that the sale of the hospital will “break the funding link with the hospice and undermine the Christian character of the institution”, that the charity’s trustees have “pursued a course of action that is not widely supported” instead of engaging with staff and supporters, and “failed to grasp that the success and respect in which both institutions are held is the result of a shared endeavour between themselves, the staff and volunteers and the local community who raise and donate the funds”.

Last night, Burstow told Parliament about the petition and said that next week, he and the chair of the hospice advisory committee, Dr Ron McKeran, will meet the Pope’s representative in England, Archbishop Mennini, to present the petition and “urge him to use his good offices to secure a resolution to the dispute between the staff and volunteers and the charity”.

Alternative solution rejected

Staff from the hospital and hospice had proposed an alternative solution: that they form a new Christian charity, with new trustees, to run the two institutions for the benefit of the community.  But the Sisters rejected this solution, saying it threatened the viability of its remaining establishments because the hospital is the charity’s only saleable asset.

The chair of the Daughters of the Cross, Sister Veronica Hagen, told civilsociety.co.uk that the proposed sale was part of a planned process which began in the 1990s of gradually reducing the number of establishments run by the charity, in order to secure its future.

“We’ve realised we can’t run them all indefinitely,” she said.  She admitted that the dwindling numbers of congregation members meant that the potential pool of successor trustees was shrinking, though “this is true of all religious congregations”. 

However, she denied that the charity would eventually be wound up: “We enter religious life forever.”

Sister Veronica insisted there were no immediate plans to offload the hospice; it will remain under the charity’s umbrella until it is financially stable and sustainable.  She said the charity would find ways to cover the cost of providing the back-office services, just as it has always done. “We are one charity, with one set of accounts.”

Hospice has become a 'political football'

She condemned the scaremongering of local campaigners, accusing them of spreading “misleading” rumours that the hospice is under threat.

“I’m afraid the hospice has become a bit of a political football,” she said.

The charity has already passed a hospital and hospice in Cornwall to the local NHS trust and Cornwall Hospice Trust, and given over schools to local dioceses.  Decisions about each establishment is made according to its specific circumstances, she said – as is the one pertaining to St Anthony’s Hospital.

Because the Daughters is a Catholic charity, it needs approval from the Vatican to dispose of church assets. Sister Veronica added the Vatican had already been notified of the proposed sale and the reasons for it, and had not raised any issues.

Charity Commission taking no action

Paul Burstow has also written to the Charity Commission complaining that the charity has not fully considered alternative solutions, but Sister Veronica said she had not been contacted by the regulator.

A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission said it was aware of the proposed sale and that concerns have been raised about it, but “we have seen no evidence to suggest mismanagement at the charity or that the trustees are not acting in the best interests of the charity. As such, we will not be taking any further action.”