Time for politicians to rally round Hospice

Yesterday"s supplementary Budget may be grabbing the headlines nationally, but locally projects will not be unaffected by the state of the public coffers, with the possibility that the HSE will not be funding staffing costs at the new South Westmeath Hospice, which was built on the site of St Vincent"s Hospital in Athlone after generous donations from the community. A crunch meeting will be held this week between Health Minister Mary Harney and local Oireachtas representatives Deputy Mary O"Rourke and Senator Nicky McFadden to discuss the future of the project. While neither would really be drawn on the issue this week it is understood the picture regarding funding for the staffing of the state of the art four bedroom unit will become clearer following tomorrow"s (Thursday"s) meeting. Our two Oireachtas members must be commended for their united front on the issue. Party politics can play no role in such issues and Deputy O"Rourke and Senator McFadden are certainly leading by example in this regard by putting the needs of Athlone and South Westmeath first in their bid to ensure the funding is made available. The Minister or the HSE must not be allowed to jeopardise this project, which the hospice committee has worked tirelessly on over the past two years to ensure that the people of Athlone and South Westmeath who are at the end stages of their lives can be treated with care, respect and dignity at a difficult time. The committee decided in 2007 that a hospice was needed in the South Westmeath area and after the HSE donated the site on the campus of St Vincent"s Hospital the committee set about fundraising for the construction and kitting out of the Hospice, with the agreement that the Hospice would then be handed over to the HSE, which would fund the staffing of the unit. The committee is already in danger of losing RAPID funding of €100,000 which was announced before Christmas and is now under review by the Department of Finance. This €100,000 is needed for equipment at the Hospice. While the public has given generously over the last number of years so that the Hospice building has been completed and will be kitted out in the near future, in these difficult economic times when the Government is intent on increasing taxes and introducing levies, it cannot be left to donations from the community to pay staff costs. The HSE must not be allowed to do a u-turn on its agreement to fund staff for the unit. It must honour its promise to staff the South Westmeath Hospice so that people with terminal illness can be treated with dignity at the end stages of their lives and benefit from the state of the art unit which was built thanks to the hard work of the hospice committee and the generous donations from the people of Athlone and South Westmeath. And as the local elections are just around the corner, all of our politicians locally must follow the example set by Deputy O"Rourke and Senator McFadden and present a united front on the issue and bring whatever pressure they can to bear on the Minister for Health to ensure that the Hospice is not put into jeopardy. Tomorrow"s meeting is, at least, a step in the right direction from our local politicians.