16 Apr 2015, 17:42
Committee acknowledges work of palliative care teams nationwide
16 April 2015
The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children has welcomed progress in the area of palliative care in Ireland, following a Committee Report on the topic in 2014.
Senior Officials from the Department of Health's Services for Older People Division and the Health Service Executive updated the Committee in private session this morning. As well as acknowledging the quality of care provided by palliative care teams in centres across the country, Committee Members welcomed the recent opening of 24 new palliative care beds in Blanchardstown, and 20 new beds in the Merriman hospice in Cork.
Committee Chairman Jerry Buttimer says: “I wish to thank Department and HSE Officials for an update on end of life care and acknowledge their ongoing work in progressing policy in this sensitive area. The meeting forms part of a wider follow-up on our report recommendations, which included recent engagement with the Irish Hospice Foundation and the Forum for the End of Life Care. On behalf of the Committee, I acknowledge too the palliative care being provided by healthcare and hospice teams, many of course in the voluntary sector, around the country.
“While acknowledging the significant work being done, our report last year did acknowledge the deficiencies that exist in the provision of end of life and palliative care in Ireland, in particular, inequalities based solely on geographic location. We called for all hospitals to have strategies for dealing with palliative, end-of-life care and bereavement in a report last year. In that context, the Committee welcomes the update in relation to the opening of 24 new palliative care beds in Blanchardstown, and 20 new beds in the Marymount Hospice in Cork.”
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Paul Hand,
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Committee Membership:
Deputies: Jerry Buttimer (Chair), Catherine Byrne, Ciara Conway (Vice-Chair), Regina Doherty, Robert Dowds, Peter M Fitzpatrick, Seamus Healy, Billy Kelleher, Eamonn Maloney, Clare Daly, Sandra McLellan, Dan Neville, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and Robert Troy
Senators: Colm Burke, John Crown, John Gilroy, Imelda Henry, Marc Mac Sharry and Jillian Van Turnhout