Hospice service to build €29m centre

A DUBLIN hospice service has received planning permission to build a €29 million centre which will provide palliative care facilities for the elderly population of the north city and county.

St Francis Hospice, a Raheny-based voluntary organisation providing free inpatient and outpatient care, said work on its second facility is to commence in Dublin 15 in October.

The new centre will feature a 24-bed inpatient unit, a hospice day care centre, as well as a base for a community multidisciplinary palliative care team of doctors, nurses and therapists.

It will be developed in two phases on a site at Abbotstown, which was donated to St Francis Hospice by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.

Most of the €29 million needed for the new centre will be generated through fundraising and charitable donations, which have been the backbone of the St Francis Hospice since it was established in 1989.

"Our fundraising team in Dublin 15 has already generated €3 million and now we have been granted planning permission they will recommence their great work," St Francis Hospice chief executive Ethel McKenna said.

"We have always relied on the generosity of the community in our work and we have received great community support in Dublin 15 because people want palliative care services in the locality," she said.

Ms McKenna said the hospice has also placed a bid for capital funding under a national palliative care strategy for 2009- 2013, which is being developed by the Government and the Health Service Executive.

St Francis Hospice currently provides specialist care to patients with advanced cancer and motor neurone disease.

Facilities at the centre include a 19-bed inpatient unit, an outpatient clinic, a day care centre and a community palliative care team.

The hospice cared for some 850 patients and their families last year.

The first phase of the new development, which is expected to take about 15 months to complete, will consist of the outpatient day care facility and the base for its palliative care team.

This will be immediately followed by the erection of a two-ward 24-bed inpatient unit, which is expected to take a further 18 months to complete.

Ms McKenna said: "Older people in the wider region of Dublin northwest who need this the most will soon be able to avail of the palliative care services without having to travel all the way to Raheny."