Manly Hospital could become ‘Big Bear Cottage’ as Premier reveals plans for young adult hospice

PREMIER Mike Baird said he hoped to open Australia’s first hospice care centre for people aged 18 to 30 on part of the old Manly Hospital site.

Premier Mike Baird, revels plans for a ‘Big Bear Cottage’.

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PREMIER Mike Baird has thrown his support behind a proposal to turn part of the Manly Hospital site into a “Big Bear Cottage”.

Options for the future of the site — which is slated to close when the new Northern Beaches Hospital opens in 2018 — will be put out for public submissions.

Mr Baird said he hoped to open Australia’s first hospice care centre for people aged 18 to 30-year-olds.

“I couldn’t think of a better way to use the facility than a Big Bear Cottage, for people that currently have nowhere else to go and are suffering from a terminal illness,” Mr Baird said.

“This would build on the fantastic work that Bear Cottage has done. Bear Cottage is Australia’s only hospice care centre for children.

“The idea has come from the manager there, who sees this great need for a place for the terminally ill who are over 18.”

Pictured is Manly Hospital's Emergency Department today. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Mr Baird said parts of the site could likely be divided for use by aged care and mental health services, as well as Bear Cottage.

“I think the Manly Hospital site is an incredibly important site and I am determined to ensure that when we decide the next use is one that the community fully supports,” he said.

It gained international fame when Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge visited in 2014.

The hospice’s nursing unit manager Narelle Martin said it would plug a gap in the health system.

“There is a growing need because young people are surviving longer thanks to enhancements in medical technology,” she said.

When young people can no longer attend Bear Cottage, their only option is aged care centres.

“Often their parents are ageing while having to look after these young adults with extremely high needs,” she said.

“I speak to families that are facing discharge form Bear Cottage, they face the unknown they are desperate for ongoing support.”

Kerrie Quin with her son Matthew.

One mother facing that prospect is Kerrie Quin.

Her son Matthew, 17, has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and turns 18 early next year.

“I am desperately unsure what has happened, I won’t have any respite next year. Matthew won’t have anywhere to go.”

While his condition is terminal, it is likely he will live until about 23.

Kerrie is his full time carer, but puts him in Bear Cottage for a reprieve.

“Matthew’s condition is degenerative, his needs are increasing, and as a parent I am getting older … it is getting harder, not easier.

“It is not like a toddler that will get better, he is going to end up on a breathing machine and possibly tube fed.”

Mr Baird encouraged ­residents to contact his office with feedback until options for future of Manly Hospital are put on public exhibition.