Ms Angela Edghill:

I am thankful for the invitation to make a presentation to the committee. I feel I am preaching to the converted because, having met many of the members on a one-to-one basis, I noted they have read our full pre-budget submission. In the interest of brevity, I will concentrate on three issues that we refer to in the submission. The first is the specialist palliative care budget, €72 million for 2013. That sum pays for home care nurses in each of the 26 counties and nine hospices throughout the country. We know there are three areas in the country that do not have a hospice. This is a vital service because the mortality rate will remain 100%. The needs of people are increasing and the budget has decreased by 14% over the past five years, and by 3% in each of the past two years. Despite that, the hospices and home care teams have managed to increase their services. We are the perfect pupil doing what the Government says, namely, doing more with less. Everybody present today will see we deal with the most vulnerable people in society but they should note death is a uniquely vulnerable and lonely experience for most people.
The hospices do an amazing amount of work. We are not asking for an increase in the budget but that the budget be maintained. The chairperson of the voluntary hospices CEO group said it has trimmed away every item of excess expenditure it could find. It has cut to the bone and managed not only to maintain services but also to increase them. If the budget is cut again this year, the services will be fragmented and suffer. Everybody says that but it is true in this case.

Around the country, the voluntary and community sector supports the hospice services. In Waterford, for instance, the Waterford Hospice Movement pays €400,000 per year to support the home care services. The south east has no inpatient unit. This cannot be sustained so it is very important that the service be maintained. Members will have received my statement so they will know all the figures.

Let me announce some good news on children's palliative care. We now have the consultant in children's palliative medicine and the eight nurses my colleague spoke to the committee about last year. Five of the nurses and a consultant are currently funded by the Irish Hospice Foundation through public subscription or fund-raising. The public is providing the funding. We would really like it if the HSE started to think about sustainable funding.

We do not have hospices in three areas of the country. There are unopened hospice beds provided by the voluntary sector in St. Francis in Blanchardstown and Marymount in Cork and we are delighted HSE says it will build the hospices in Waterford and Kerry. We would like it to happen as soon as possible.