ONE OF the State’s leading hospices is experiencing severe financial difficulties due to a combination of Government health cutbacks and a drop in fundraising income.
The Galway Hospice has warned that it will be unable to sustain its current level of activity if there is any further reduction in HSE support.
The Renmore centre, which became Ireland’s first hospice to receive dual international accreditation across all of its services, points out it has been less reliant on State funding than other similar establishments. Some 70 per cent of its budget derives from the State, while 30 per cent is raised through voluntary fundraising efforts, and through bequests and donations.
It costs about €3.5 million for in-patient care at its 12-bed unit, and about €1.5 million annually to run its day care and home care services.
Some 130 people are treated at home, and there has been a 19 per cent increase in demand for this over the past 12 months alone.
The Galway Hospice had already agreed in principle with the HSE to provide an additional 14 beds, in line with the report of the National Advisory Committee on Palliative Care (2001).
However, it experienced a 5 per cent reduction in State funding in 2010, and a further 2.3 per cent cut last year.
It has yet to hear if a proposed 5.5 per cent cut to its HSE funding for 2012 will be implemented.
Hospice chief executive Seán O’Healy said every bed was occupied and staffing economies had been made, to the extend the hospice was “at breaking point”.
“Galway Hospice has been carrying a very disproportionate level of voluntary funding,” he said, with the nearest comparative facility running on 82 per cent State support.
“So, proportionately, we have to raise more money to keep going than any of the other voluntary hospices – and the people of Galway, who have been wonderful, should not be asked to do any more.”
The hospice advised local politicians late last year of the financial situation, at a time when cutbacks in public health are already having a severe impact.
“Our biggest concern is for the people who use this service and who really have nowhere else to go,” Mr O’Healy said.
“Part of the irony here is that we’ve achieved such international standards – we’re the only hospice in Ireland that has achieved such standards and last year we did more work than any previous year on less money,” he said.
