Hospice Committee To Meet Health Minister Over Plans To Close Unit

Monday, 2 September 2019 13:00

The South Westmeath Hospice Committee is planning to hold a public rally, if the HSE does not to abandon the plan to close the hospice unit in Athlone.

The HSE says the proposal is due to the cost of the beds in the current facility at St. Vincent’s in Athlone.

The group is asking people to support the Save Your Hospice campaign by attending the demonstration on the 19th of October.

The committee is also due to meet with the Health Minister Simon Harris tomorrow.

Secretary of the Board Joe Whelan says there are a number of issues to be resolved:

An online petition has also been set up to Save the South Westmeath Hospice.

Mr. Whelan says the group is launching the campaign Save Our Hospice:

Statement on behalf of the South Westmeath Hospice Committee:

The South Westmeath Hospice Committee met on Friday evening (August 30th) to discuss the outcome of the recent meeting with the HSE, and to co-ordinate a structured campaign to protect this vital facility.

The Committee acknowledged that the next 3 months will be crucial in the fight to protect and maintain the facility, and that public support will be vital in getting the message across to both the HSE and the Government, on the importance of this care-giving facility in the greater Midland area.

Representatives from the Committee will meet with the Minister of Health Simon Harris in Dublin on Tuesday 3rd September to discuss the matter further.

As always, the Hospice will rely on local people and business to support and help the Committee over the coming months and the “Save Your Hospice” campaign will kick off with a call-to-action for public support for the South Westmeath Hospice’s Largest Ever Coffee morning on Saturday 21st September (details will follow).

In addition, a Public Rally is proposed for Saturday, 19th October and, further information on this will be released once details are finalised.

The campaign to “Save Your Hospice” will need an incredible amount of public help and support and to assist us to co-ordinate this, we would request that all suggestions and offers of help be made through southwestmeathhospice@gmail.com. We ask that you check our Facebook page for further updates.