30,000 sign campaign petition to keep MS respite home open

Campaigners have collected more than 30,000 signatures on a petition to save Leuchie House, the respite home near North Berwick which the Multiple Sclerosis Society wants to close.

And tomorrow MSPs will discuss the future of the home in a special debate in the Scottish Parliament.

One of the campaign organisers, Moni Robson, a physiotherapist who worked at Leuchie House, said the response to the petition had been "amazing".

She said: "It just shows the strength of people's feelings."

Around 1400 people a year use the MS Society's four respite homes in the UK. The charity says withdrawing from direct provision of respite care will allow it to help fund more people taking short breaks elsewhere.

But Ms Robson said: "The people who use the respite centres desperately need them. They cannot get the same provision. People with severe MS have greater needs and you would think the MS Society would see the need to look after people with severe MS."

Scottish Labour leader and East Lothian MSP Iain Gray and his Westminster colleague Fiona O'Donnell were on hand to receive the petition from about 50 campaigners who marched to the Scottish Parliament, accompanied by a piper.

Mr Gray said the MS Society had made "the wrong decision" about Leuchie House and called on it to rethink.

He said: "I've visited Leuchie House on several occasions and I'm in no doubt the service is invaluable.

"It is probably the only facility that allows even sufferers with high dependency to have a break with their family and carers. Everyone who has been believes it is absolutely crucial to their quality of life."

One campaigner walked 260 miles in 11 days from York to Edinburgh to publicise the case for keeping Leuchie House open. Andrew Keyworth's father suffers from MS and for the past three years he has taken a break at Leuchie House with his wife, who is his full-time carer.

Mr Keyworth, 33, from Hull, said: "It's the only holiday they can really have together. I've tried to book them surprise weekends away at so-called disabled hotels, but when you ask about specialist care and equipment they don't have it."

Two critical motions have been tabled for the Multiple Sclerosis Society's annual general meeting in London on Saturday - one to suspend the respite care review which proposed the Leuchie House closure and the other a motion of no confidence in the trustees who made the decision.

The society said it looked forward to the debate as "an opportunity to explore the ways in which respite services can be developed in the future".

A spokesman said: "The society recognises the passion and commitment of campaigners. The decision faced by the Board of Trustees was far from easy but was taken to ensure that as many people as possible affected by MS can be supported through the society to access respite care and short breaks."