Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the time to raise in the Dáil today the need for the provision of a hospice in County Wicklow and to seek an update on where plans for such a provision are currently within the Department of Health and the HSE. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, for her attendance for this topical issue.

The people of County Wicklow, relative to other parts of the country, have been poorly served by the level of palliative care available. In counties such as Limerick, Clare, Tipperary, Donegal and Sligo, the health spend on specialist palliative care services in 2011 was roughly €30 per head of population; in my county of Wicklow, the figure is a paltry €3. Currently, Wicklow does not have the resources to provide a service seven days a week and it cannot provide a weekend on-call service. Whereas the standard of care provided by home care teams of nurses is exceptional and very much appreciated by families in need of such a service, we have experienced weeks in Wicklow where services have been suspended in parts of the county due to staff leave and vacant nursing posts.

Despite this, an amazing group of dedicated and committed people have come together in Wicklow to set up what is known as the Wicklow Hospice Foundation. They have worked day and night and, to date, they have raised in excess of €2.5 million to provide a hospice in Wicklow. They have even obtained a site for the hospice, very kindly donated by nuns, in Magheramore. They now expect to be able to meet all the capital costs of building a hospice through fund-raising, an incredible achievement, particularly in the current economic climate. That makes me very proud to represent such a community in this House.

The people in the Wicklow Hospice Foundation, the residents of Wicklow and I must know where is the provision of the hospice in the view of the HSE and the Department of Health. What consideration has been given to the possible funding streams to staff, equip and maintain such a Wicklow hospice? If the community can build the hospice and has raised funding voluntarily, as well as finding a site for the hospice, where can the Department of Health and HSE meet the community in progressing the work?

I wish to emphasise a few points and seek answers. In 2009, the HSE carried out a major consultation process on palliative care and produced a five-year implementation plan. The list emanating from the plan was based on population, need and clinical opinion on where the hospice facilities should be built, as we cannot build a hospice facility in every town. County Wicklow was included as a location, so the need has already been recognised by the HSE as far back as 2009. Will the Minister of State indicate where the implementation of the five-year plan stands?

The Government's health document, Future Health, has just been published and it has a strong commitment to develop potential funding channels for palliative care. Will the Minister of State elaborate on the issue and will the funding mechanism be based on the model of money following the patient? It is clearly enshrined in the programme for Government and I know both of our political parties campaigned heavily on it in the last general election.

The provision of a Wicklow hospice is clearly right morally and from a societal perspective. It is also right from an economic view. We all know the cost of acute hospital care is far more than the cost of palliative and community care. Will the Minister of State address that point? The provision of a Wicklow hospice is a perfect example of a partnership approach to the delivery of important community health services. The community has played a leadership role and there is significant buy-in and pride in the project. Residents in County Wicklow have put their money where their mouth is and raised more than €2 million. The nuns in the county have played their part and contributed a site, which has been approved as being suitable by the HSE. We now need to advance the issue with the support of the HSE.

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