A plan by the HSE to impose a three per cent cut to funding for the Galway Hospice Foundation for this year has been condemned by Fine Gael Galway West TD Brian Walsh.
Dep Walsh has described as “grossly unfair” plans to reduce funding for the organisation and said he would “fight tooth and nail” against it.
Funding for Galway Hospice provided by the HSE has fallen by 7.3 per cent over the past two years, while revenue from fundraising fell by 10 per cent last year.
Dep Walsh, who has raised the matter on two occasions in the Dáil, warned that the hospice is now “at breaking point” and any further reductions in funding “could undermine the continued viability” of the service.
He also pointed out that Galway Hospice already had to contend with the fact that it receives the lowest amount of funding per hospice bed of any comparable hospice in the State. It received just over €300,000 for each hospice bed last year, compared to rates as high as €444,000 for each bed at Marymount Hospice in Cork.
“This is despite being the only hospice in Ireland to be accredited by the International Society for Quality in Healthcare and the only hospice in Europe to have received an International Quality Improvement Award for delivery of care,” said Dep Walsh.
According to Dep Walsh, the Health Service Plan 2012 “explicitly stated that cognisance would be taken of organisations that had already made efficiency savings” when it came to imposing reductions in funding.
“Galway Hospice is one such organisation and it is entirely unacceptable that it would be asked to shoulder this additional burden,” he said.
Dep Walsh has discussed the matter with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny. He has also requested that the Minister for Health Dr James Reilly meet with representatives of the hospice to outline their situation.
“It seems to me that this historic core funding deficit has resulted from an unwillingness on the part of the HSE to engage with the hospice,” he said. “This needs to be resolved for once and for all
