Facilities deficit aired

COMING TO MAYO Pobal presenter, Síle Seoighe

Facilities deficit aired

Neill O’Neill

THE inequalities in the way funding is distributed among hospice foundations around the country and the lack of specialist facilities in the west will be highlighted on RTÉ’s regional and community affairs programme Pobal, on Sunday next.
Presented by Síle Seoige, the plight of the Mayo Roscomon Hopsice Foundation and their attempt to build specialist care units on the grounds of Mayo General Hospital and Roscommon County Hospital, will form the core of the report. Despite the organisation’s 15 years in existence, they do not have a single hospice bed in either county.
Speaking to The Mayo News, CEO of the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation, Cynthia Clampett said that the hospice had offered to fund the initial design and research phases of the new proposals and to provide 50 per cent of the building expenses at an estimated cost of €9 million. So far, however, the only response they have got from the Government is a verbal promise from Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Brian Lenihan.
“It was great to hear Mr Lenihan’s promise but really we need written confirmation that the Government is behind us and that the funding is assured before we will know if the project is being taken seriously,” she said. “The Irish Hospice Foundation’s recent Baseline Study revealed a huge inequality in how services are available around the country. In Dublin, Cork and Limerick for example the hospice organisations are 80 per cent funded by the HSE, yet in Mayo and Roscommn we have to provide 70 per cent of our own funding.”
That study recommended the west getting an accelerated programme of investment to prevent hospice services here always having to play catch-up. Every year the Mayo-Roscommmon Hospice Foundation need to raise €1.3 million to fund their work which covers the wages of 15 community nurses, medical social workers, and specialist palliative care nurses working in the hospitals. They also provide funding for patient transport costs, night nursing, home help, family support and medical equipment and supplies.
“We got RTÉ involved to highlight this issue,” Ms Clampett explained. “They put a question to the HSE on this and the response was that the developments of these new units in Mayo and Roscommon are provided for in their Capital Plan 2007-2011.
“We have developed a seven-day service and it is working well but we need these in-patient facilities in order to provide specialist treatments. They exist elsewhere in Ireland and are in line with the national strategy of best practice. This is something we are entitled to but we cannot go to the people of Mayo and Roscommon and ask them to help without having Government support.”