Expansion plans: After two turbulent years, Galway Hospice has announced significant expansion plans.
The hospice intends to treble the number of beds it has for seriously ill patients, and to provide overnight accommodation for families of patients.
The hospice board has bought a large bungalow on the Dublin Road side of its premises at Renmore. Together with a small green site which it owns next to the bungalow, overall space will be increased by 40 per cent. The board intends to apply to demolish the bungalow and to redevelop the site, subject to Government funding.
Galway Hospice chief executive Sean O hEalai said the board aimed to provide up to 40 beds as part of Government policy.
The impending appointment of two new consultants in palliative care would also create a need for an increase in beds, Mr O hEalai explained. One of the consultants will hold a joint contract serving Galway Hospice and Mayo, and the second will have a joint contract with Roscommon. Each will provide four sessions a week at the Galway facility.
While there are currently 12 beds at the hospice, only eight are funded by the HSE West. Six-seven beds are almost always full and one bed is kept free for emergency cases.
The hospice was closed for 15 months from May 2003 while an investigation into alleged clinical errors was conducted. Following allegations of bullying by 22 members of nursing staff at the hospice, consultant Dr Waldron and her team withdrew voluntarily from the hospice last April. The unit has been operating under a GP-led service since then.
Since its inception in 1990, Galway Hospice has been involved in the care of almost 3,500 home and day care patients, for which it has received no State funding. Last week, the Galway-based State research vessel, Celtic Explorer, raised €800 for Galway Hospice by turning itself into a temporary "coffee dock" for the hospice movement's national fundraising day.