A PROBE has been launched into the future of Grace's Place children's hospice – to determine its future once and for all.

The review was announced this week by Bury Hospice bosses as they published a report detailing past problems in their own organisation and revealed positive developments.

Grace's Place, which is in the old Bury Hospice building on Dumers Lane, Radcliffe, was due to open in the autumn of 2014, but has suffered a series of setbacks and remains shut.

Supporters including Bury South MP Ivan Lewis and radio presenter Sara Cox have campaigned for it to open.

According to the latest accounts, it was £359,000 in debt as of November 2014.

In recent months, Grace's Place trustees have been working with Pennine Care, which owns the land on which the building stands and Bury Hospice leaders, who secured a £500,000 grant from the Department of Health on its behalf in 2013.

Sources have said that, while progress has been made, there are still issues to resolve, such as to what extent the problems are the fault of Bury Hospice — and the review hopes to achieve a resolution and come up with a final plan.

There are four possible recommends: Open Grace's Place as an independent organisation, open it in partnership with Bury Hospice, allow an established children's hospice to open it, or declare the building unfeasible as a children's hospice and use it for something else related to healthcare.

Two independent consultants are set to be appointed to carry out the review.

"Whatever the review concludes and recommends, the final decision rests with the board of trustees of Grace's Place and nobody else," said a Bury Hospice source.

Bury Hospice this week published a report summarising a probe of corporate activities at the Rochdale Old Road facility since it opened in 2013.

The report said: "The review found that there had been significant failures in leadership, governance and management that included poor medium and long-term planning, inadequate performance and risk management.

"This left fundamental weaknesses resulting in, for example, the development of capital projects with insufficient resources to bring them into sustainable operation. Staff and volunteers worked in an environment that lacked transparency and consistency.

"The workforce was affected by poor morale and, in some cases, felt dismayed at what was going on. A number of staff and volunteers resigned, relationships with stakeholders broke down and confidence in Bury Hospice deteriorated."

Bury Hospice leaders say they have learned lessons from the past and are pleased with the level of support they have received from supporters since the turn of the year.

"Donations for the first two months of this financial year are double what they were in the same period last year," the report says.

However, the hospice was this week shocked when former chief executive Jacqui Comber made a claim for unfair dismissal via ACAS.

An employment tribunal hearing is set to take place in November and Ms Comber could be awarded up to £72,400 from the charity.

Liverpool-based MSB Solicitors, which is representing Ms Comber in the claim, declined to comment.