My Department has a National Lottery discretionary fund in place which provides once-off grants to community groups and organisations, providing a range of health related services. Dignity 4 Patients received lottery funding of €69,000 from my Department's 2011 allocation of National Lottery Funding towards the once-off cost of providing an office, a website, a helpline and office administration.
On-going funding for any service is a matter for the HSE and accordingly I previously asked Dignity 4 Patients to liaise with the HSE in this regard. I understand there has been frequent contact between the HSE and Dignity 4 Patients and as a result the HSE has agreed to provide funding to Dignity 4 Patients for their office expenses. I have now asked the HSE to engage further with Dignity 4 Patients to consider if any additional funding might possibly be provided by them to support activities that Dignity 4 Patients may be engaged in which are complimentary to services offered by the HSE, such as counselling services.