The troubled Galway Hospice is now the subject of two investigations, following the suspension of all new admissions to the cancer care facility.
The Western Health Board is carrying out its own investigation into formal complaints lodged by both the palliative care consultant attached to the hospice, and by nursing staff .
This investigation is separate to the review of medication procedures announced by the Galway Hospice board over a month ago.
A spokeswoman for the health board declined to comment yesterday
However, it is understood that a series of complaints by staff members has been documented and forwarded to the board's senior management.
Meanwhile, the hospice board is seeking an urgent meeting with the health board to try and reverse the decision - taken by the palliative care consultant attached to the hospice - to stop referring new admissions because of concerns over administration of drugs and other medical-treatment issues.
It is understood that the health board is unlikely to reverse that decision in the short term, and is concerned about the independence of the hospice board's review .
This concern is also shared by the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA).
"There was a strong recommendation that the review committee should include both medical and nursing expertise from outside the State, and it would be regrettable if this wasn't taken on board by both the Galway Hospice Foundation and the Western Health Board," Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick, IHCA secretary general, told The Irish Times yesterday.
It is vital, given the nature of the concerns raised, that any review be independent, and it should aim to give patients and consultants confidence in the hospice service, he added.
A spokesman for the Galway Hospice Foundation said the independent expert group comprised four people, none of whom were from the hospice and one of whom was a Western Health Board nomination.
The group did not include a palliative care consultant, the spokesman confirmed, but the group would be able to draw on outside expert inputs where necessary.
The controversy is expected to be raised at Monday's meeting of the Western Health Board in Galway.
The 12-bed hospice depends on voluntary contributions raised from the local community, but receives an annual subvention from the health board, running at €2.3 million.
The hospice employs 65 staff. The Irish Nurses' Organisation, which has welcomed the hospice board review, has called on the health board to reopen the hospice for new admissions.
However, the health board said it is not in a position to do this.
Currently, there is one patient in the building at Renmore, and all day-care and home-care services are continuing.
All cancer patients who would normally be referred to the hospice are being treated in the oncology department of University College Hospital, Galway (UCG), and this is putting extra pressure on services at the hospital.
Consultants at UCG stressed that the patients are receiving expert palliative care there, but it would be preferable that this should be administered in a palliative care environment - rather than in a busy hospital.