By Claire Corrigan
Veronica Larkin, Chairperson of the North Hospice Fundraising Committee, has voiced her concerns and those of the committee members regarding the fact that they are raising money to pay for staff working in Hospice.
At their AGM on May 23rd, Veronica Larkin said that while she was glad to see that HSE staff are now being employed instead of agency workers, the Hospice committee should not be the ones funding positions.
“As I said to Minister Harris when he visited, we should not be shaking cans to collect money to pay for staff to care for the terminally ill people of this area. I worked in the HSE for 35 years, and I have been entirely disheartened at meetings with them. Committee members have expressed their frustration at fundraising for salaries. The HSE seems to be very slow about coming forward and making an agreement with us,” Ms. Larkin said.
John Shaw, CEO of North Westmeath Hospice Fundraising Committee, was in agreement.
“It’s a constant battle to try and get people into positions and make sure we have enough staff on the front line. Last year at Hospice, we had 140 new referrals. 84 were cancer patients and 57 were other. There was just over 1,600 visits by the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) last year and 160 people died within the service. There is approximately 4.5 full time positions and we are paying half. We would like to get to where all the salaries are being funded by the HSE,” he said.
Mr. Shaw said that Hospice had had a difficult year, mainly because they have been unable to fill a number of vacant positions. “We finally have our Social Worker in place since January, which was previously a very big gap in the service. We are funding that position, as it was agreed with the HSE that we would for the next three years, so it will be a significant expenditure of Hospice funds. We’re also funding the position of a Specialist Nurse in the hospital.”
