Hospice care spending should more than double, admits Harney

SPENDING on hospice care should be more than doubled, Health Minister Mary Harney conceded yesterday.

Ms Harney, who launched an Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) report that found major gaps in hospice care throughout the county, described as appalling the lack of privacy given to some terminally ill patients in hospitals.

IHF chief executive Eugene Murray said a world class hospice care service could be provided in Ireland for €144 million, half the cost of running a large acute hospital for one year.

“I am very sorry that any patient of any family would be put in that position. The very least we all deserve is privacy and dignity,” Ms Harney said.

The minister said it was clear from the report that hospice care was very patchy in some parts of the country. She pointed out, however, that an effort was now being made to put in place a system of palliative care support, both in the home and at hospital level.

Around €60 million was being spent on hospice care and she believed the money being spent should be more than doubled. Substantial increases in spending had been made.

But Fine Gael’s health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey said it was time Government lived up to promises.