Frank Feighan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The palliative care centre is one of three major capital projects being developed at Roscommon County Hospital. I am pleased to report that the €6 million endoscopy project was officially opened recently by the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris. I am also pleased to report that the Minister, Deputy Harris, has given the green light to an €8 million medical rehabilitation unit at the hospital. It will serve as a satellite centre from the west of Ireland to Dún Laoghaire.An eight-bed palliative care unit is the third major capital development being planned on the grounds of Roscommon hospital, bringing the investment to over €20 million. It is very clear that the demand for palliative care services has never been greater. It is predicted that the proportion of older people in Ireland will increase by up to 30% over the next decade. Within the former western health board region, Mayo and Roscommon are predicted to experience the largest increases which consequently will have implications for palliative care services in the region, specifically the number and volume of services required. The report of the national advisory committee on palliative care in 2001 recommended that there should be up to ten specialists inpatient beds for every 100,000 of population with at least one inpatient unit in each of the former ten health board areas.

Unfortunately, no such facility exists in Roscommon and this often leads to crisis admissions to acute hospitals, waits and long travel to hospice or hospital facilities in Galway and Dublin away from family and friends. People who are very ill, and their families, should not have to go through this. It is unacceptable.

The good news is the proposed building of an eight-bed palliative care unit on the grounds of Roscommon hospital. This is very welcome and timely. This has been going on for the past three or four years. The unit will provide inpatient day care and community palliative care services to patients with advanced life-limiting illnesses in County Roscommon. The key to the success of this project is the recruitment of appropriate staff with the necessary skills to deliver quality palliative care and through its great work, the Mayo Roscommon Hospice will fully fund the building costs of the Roscommon project. The last Minister for Health was very committed to funding staff costs. This is one of three projects and it has been working very closely with the endoscopy unit, which is already built and with the rehabilitation unit for which the funding has been allocated to get the go-ahead. I believe the Mayo Roscommon Hospice will provide funding of €5 million but the main issue is the need for the HSE to fund the staffing. Where exactly is this agreement?