Harney meeting postponed

A meeting which had been arranged with the Minister for Health Mary Harney for Wednesday 25th of June to discuss the Mayo/Roscommon Hospice Foundation’s plans to develop a Hospice Unit in Roscommon, has been postponed. Cynthia Clampett, CEO of the Foundation said: ‘We are very disappointed that the meeting had to be postponed but we understood the Minister had to attend an urgent meeting abroad. We are pleased that an alternate date for a meeting has been arranged for the 22nd of July.’ In 2007 the Foundation worked closely with HSE West to produce the ‘Business Cases’ for the development of an eight-bed palliative care level 2 support unit in Roscommon and a 14-bed specialist Level 3 unit in Mayo. The HSE issued letters of approval and sanction for both the Roscommon and Mayo Units in January of this year. The two units will cost almost €22 million to build. The Foundation has agreed to fund 50 percent of the building costs. In May the HSE withdrew approval for the Hospice Unit in Roscommon. Since then the Foundation has been trying every avenue in an effort to have the HSE’s decision overturned. The Foundation is determined to develop the Hospice Units in both Roscommon and Mayo. The Unit in Roscommon was originally proposed as a level 2 support Unit because at that time the Foundation did not have a choice. They had to work within national guidelines as outlined in the Report of the National Advisory Committee on Palliative Care. The guidelines dictated that the existing Galway Hospice was to be the hub of the service. The Mayo Unit was to be the Satellite Specialist Unit and only one Satellite Specialist Unit was allowed in each Health Board area. The number of beds and level of specialty was based on population. The new HSE National Directive now decrees that all Palliative Care funding over the next five years is to be directed exclusively towards Level 3 services only. Cynthia Clampett said: ‘This decision by the HSE is hugely unfair and very divisive. It will effectively deprive vulnerable sick people in Roscommon of Hospice beds for more than another decade. It is devastating news for all our supporters but especially for the people of Roscommon.’ The Foundation had been very careful not to raise the people’s expectations prematurely but once they received official written confirmation of approval for the two units they were confident about going public and commence fundraising for the projects. Cynthia Clampett said: ‘The Foundation values the people of the two counties equally and to date we have developed services in an equitable manner. The people of Roscommon are asking where the €4 million allocated for their Unit has gone? They have every right to feel cheated and undervalued by the State and we will do everything in our power to right that wrong. The reality is there would be no Palliative Care service in Roscommon or Mayo without Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation.’ Cynthia went on to say: ‘Hospice and Palliative Care Services are seriously under developed nationally and there is an irrefutable need for additional Hospice beds. The Irish Hospice Foundation highlighted the old WHB region, as needing an accelerated programme of investment. When we meet with the Minister on the 22nd of July the Foundation will be making a strong case to have the Roscommon Unit upgraded to a Level 3 Specialist Unit.  We have a letter dated 21st May 2007 from Brian Lenihan, the then Minister for State for the Department of Health and Children, which states that matched capital funding will be provided for the development of Palliative Care/Hospice Units in Mayo and Roscommon during the lifetime of this Government. ‘The good news is that the seven-day home care service is working extremely well. The specialist palliative home care team working in cooperation with the HSE Primary Care Team provide an excellent service for patients in their own homes, in hospitals and nursing homes through our the two counties. ‘The Foundation wish to assure the people that they will do everything in their power to ensure that appropriate in-patient services are developed for Palliative Care patients in both Roscommon and Mayo.’