Major boost for Milford Hospice
Plans to state-fund four voluntary hospice providers
The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly has announced the redesignation of four voluntary hospice providers, Marymount Care Centre, Milford Care Centre, Galway Hospice and St Francis Hospice, from Section 39 service level agreements with the Health Service Executive (HSE) to Section 38 agreements. The redesignation of the four hospice organisations will take place this February 2024.
The redesignation will provide a sustainable model of care for adult specialist palliative care services in Ireland and ensure the provision of these core services into the future. The Government is providing a total of €18.6 million to achieve this.
Minister Donnelly said: “I am delighted to announce that the redesignation will take place this February. It means that all adult hospices in our country will now be fully state-funded. This is a significant step towards our goal of providing universal access to palliative care.
“There has been excellent progress made since the HSE established a National Implementation Group to carry out this transition. I'd like to thank all members of the implementation group for their commitment and hard work. We are rightly very proud of our palliative care services in Ireland.
“The voluntary hospice sector has worked tirelessly down through the years, in partnership with local communities, to expand the network of hospice services around the country. The redesignation will provide financial and staffing sustainability to ensure that these providers of adult specialist palliative care services can continue their vital work. It will strengthen their core services and mean, for example, that fundraising by the hospices will no longer be required to cover payroll or other operational costs such as electricity and heating.
“I acknowledge the essential adult specialist palliative care services provided by these four organisations and the benefits the care they provide give to people with life limiting illnesses and their families. I commend the staff in these four hospices for the vital services they provide and for striving to ensure that patients under your care have the best quality of life.”
A spokesperson for the four hospices said: “This move by government to enable secure and equitable funding for core services is very welcomed and will benefit our patients, residents, families and staff. We extend our sincere thanks to all of those involved from government, Dept of Health, HSE nationally and regionally and all other supporters in this endeavour. We are grateful to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister for Health and the many others that supported this enormous change. Although we always work closely with health colleagues across the HSE and cannot underestimate their role, our governance structures remain independent of the HSE and we are grateful to our voluntary Board of Directors for their ongoing support.
“Our missions, values and ethos and service provision will remain unchanged and we will continue to grow our services in line with national policy and the needs of our communities. We are committed locally, regionally, and nationally to continue to deliver and develop high quality services for those who need it most. Fundraising will still very much be required by our services and the monies will all go towards enhancing care experiences for patients and their families. Fundraising will continue to fund specialised individual care needs, equipment to enhance the comfort of those with a life limiting illness and provide family supports. Our fundraising will be essential to optimise our spaces and environments, and to create essential projects that will benefit patients. We thank our communities for understanding this and for continuing to support hospices with such enormous generosity. We are very much looking forward to a bright 2024.”