The Labour Party president and Galway West TD, Mr Michael D Higgins, has criticised as "completely unacceptable" the continued failure to resolve the Galway Hospice issue.
Mr Higgins said yesterday that there was "immense public frustration" at the delay in publishing reports on the circumstances leading to the closure of the hospice last year. The Department of Health should now intervene and seek an explanation for this delay, he said.
No new referrals have been made to the 12-bed unit since last May, and terminally ill patients are being treated in University College Hospital, Galway (UCHG).
The hospice, which is run by a charitable foundation, is still maintaining its day care and home care services.
A review of medical procedures commissioned by the hospice foundation was due to be submitted to its board last month, while a separate investigation by the Western Health Board (WHB) into allegations of bullying is still continuing.
Over 21,000 signatures to a petition seeking the re-opening of the facility in Renmore were given to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, last month, and several hundred people also participated in a public protest over the issue in Galway city.
The Galway West TD said that the loss of the 12-bed unit was denying to seriously ill patients and their families the particular care and attention that only a hospice could provide.
"This issue has been allowed to drag on for far too long and steps must now be taken to deal with it," Mr Higgins said.
While over 21,000 people had signed a petition, and the Irish Nurses Organisation had also expressed its concern, there had been no statement to date from the Department of Health, Mr Higgins added. The department could lay down a timescale for resolving the problem, he said.
Temporary structures should have already been put in place to ensure accountability, and to allow for full re-opening of the hospice, he suggested. "The people of Galway should not be deprived of this valuable service into the new year."
Last month the Mayor of Galway, PD councillor Ms Terry O'Flaherty, described the hospice closure as "the scandal of 2003" in the city, and criticised the Western Health Board for failing to intervene. The palliative consultant attached to the hospice is employed by the Western Health Board.
The Department of Health said last night it was acutely aware of the situation in Galway Hospice, and was anxious a resolution be sought "fairly quickly".
