South Westmeath Hospice Committee "Devastated" By HSE's Change Of Plan

Wednesday, 28 April 2021 08:55

They're been working to find a solution to the issue for almost two years.

The South Westmeath Hospice Committee is hitting out at the HSE for not fulfilling its promises to maintain the service.

The present site at St. Vincent's in Athlone is closing, with the hospice to be moved to a newly-built Community Nursing Unit in Clonbrusk.

The Hospice Committee is campaigning for a stand-alone palliative care centre to be set up at the CNU, rather than the HSE offer to incorporate four hospice beds into the rest of the facility.

The Committee says the plans presented at a meeting earlier this month differed from the agreement reached last October, and the agreed proposals were never sent to the National Office for approval, despite previous commitments to do so.

Committee Chair, Clare Lennon has described the meeting as utter devastation and says they're now taking legal advice.

Michael Evans - a director on the Board of the Committee - says they received assurances from the HSE in 2008 that the palliative service would be "mirrored" at the new site: