Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 January 2024
578. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Health to provide on update on the Programme for Government commitment to support community specialist palliative home care teams in all HSE areas, fund designated homecare packages, and resource specialist palliative care provided in hospices, since the establishment of the Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2462/24]
View answerIn Ireland, specialist palliative care services are delivered by the HSE in partnership with voluntary agencies to provide integrated, high quality and accessible palliative care to patients and their families. Specialist palliative care is provided by multidisciplinary teams in acute hospitals, specialist palliative care inpatient units (hospices) and in community settings by community palliative care teams (homecare teams). Consultants in palliative medicine have contracted hours across all three settings ensuring seamless transitions and integrated services for patients and their families.
A fully developed specialist palliative care unit (hospice) comprises in-patient beds, out-patient services and bereavement services. In 2023, there were 14 specialist palliative care inpatient units (hospices) providing a total of 276 beds across the country. This is an increase of 49 beds since 2020. Recent developments include the opening of new hospices in Wicklow (2020), Mayo (2019) and Waterford (2021). Plans are progressing for three further units in Drogheda, Tullamore and Cavan to ensure all regions have access to a specialist palliative care inpatient unit in line with national policy.
In 2022, there were 4,118 admissions to specialist palliative care inpatient units. This represents a 22.78% increase in comparison to 2020 (3,354). 97% of patients were admitted within 7 days of referral. Due to the ongoing Fórsa action, performance figures for 2023 are based on available data from January to August 2023. An anticipated increase in admissions to specialist palliative care inpatient units is expected to be 10% up on 2022 admissions.
There are 32 community specialist palliative care (home care) teams covering all 26 counties. The community specialist palliative care teams work in close partnership with GP’s and primary care teams and provide expert palliative care to both adults and children in all community settings including nursing homes.
In 2022, community palliative care teams provided care to an average of 3,592 patients each month in their own homes. This was an 8.3% increase from 2020 (3,316) and reflects the increased demand for palliative care services in the community. Due to the ongoing Fórsa action, performance figures for 2023 are based on available data from January to August 2023. An anticipated increase in care provided by community palliative care teams to patients in their own homes is expected to be 10% up on 2022 figures.
In partnership with the Irish Cancer Society and Irish Hospice Foundation, the HSE also delivers Night Nursing care to patients receiving specialist palliative care to enable people die at home and provide respite to carers during end-of-life care. In 2023, 2,835 patients received Night Nursing care in their own homes utilising an average of 3.47 nights of care per patient.
Funding provided for specialist palliative care in NSP 2022 (€2.4m) and NSP 2023 (€2.8m) provided for the enhancement of both adult and children’s palliative care services in the community including:
• Additional staffing for community specialist palliative care teams in line with workforce recommendations from 2001 Adult Palliative Care Policy.
• Enhanced provision of Night Nursing Services in partnership with Irish Cancer Society and Irish Hospice Foundation.
• Expansion of LauraLynn Hospice in the Home service.
• Additional Clinical Nurse Specialists to enhance availability of out–of-hours palliative care supports for patients in the community.
