THE founder of Helen & Douglas House said she was ‘deeply saddened’ by the hospice’s decision to scrap adult services.

Sister Frances Dominica set up the charity decades ago, before being forced to leave over unproven sex abuse allegations, unrelated to the hospice.

The nun was asked to resign from her role as trustee in 2015, despite police dropping their case the previous year.

Sister Frances has always maintained her innocence and has kept up her mission to spread the hospice movement.

She told the Oxford Mail yesterday: “I am deeply saddened that circumstances have led to the decisions now reached by the trustees, with the consequent repercussions.

“It is however reassuring to recognise that the original model of Helen & Douglas House has been replicated across the world.

“There are many families whom we have been privileged to support over the years who remain our life-long friends.”

In September she told this paper it would be ‘catastrophic’ if the hospice were to collapse, and that its recent money struggles caused her ‘great concern and sorrow’.

Annual accounts for the charity in 2015-16, the first set since Sister Frances’s departure, showed income from donations and legacies was £1.7m less than the average sum received in the past five years.

A former employee of the hospice, who did not want to be identified, told the Oxford Mail he was ‘outraged’ by the decision to cut services.

He added: “I think this is a tragedy for the dedicated workforce and most importantly, for the patients.

“It was their holiday, their one ray of light.”

Another former employee, who also asked not to be named, said: “My reaction is one of huge sadness.

“Douglas House is comparatively new and to annihilate what it was built for seems absolutely awful.

“Before it was built, the youngsters who were to use it were asked what they wanted.

“They wanted wide corridors for wheelchair racing and bedrooms big enough to entertain their friends, and a bar with free beer.

“Douglas House was a chance for them to live like adults, with everything ‘normal’ young people take for granted.”