News
Six-bed extension opens at Galway Hospice
A six-bedroom extension to Galway Hospice has been officially opened, bringing the total number of beds at the palliative care facility to 18.
The expansion comes at a time of unprecedented demand for hospice services – the facility was full to capacity as soon as the beds were opened.
The extension opened to this public on January 25, and was officially launched this week by Frank Fahy, Mayor of Galway, and Pete Roche, Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council.
The next step of the expansion of services will be the roll-out of additional Day Care services, and there has already been an increase in Home Care Clinical Nurse Specialists so that more patients can be cared-for in their own homes.
Chief Executive Mary Nash praised the public for their support since the inception of the hospice, but pointed out that it continues to require €1.8m in funding each year for existing services.
“The people of Galway have been phenomenal in their support of Galway Hospice, support that not alone built Galway Hospice, but fully-funded the Home Care and Day Care services since their inception.
“The HSE has agreed to meet the full running costs of the additional services, a decision that was immensely important in enabling Galway Hospice to proceed with funding these capital improvements.
“This does not relieve Galway Hospice of the continuing requirement to raise €1.8 million each year towards funding existing services, but it is hugely welcomed as it enables us to significantly address the unrelenting demand that currently exists for hospice services within our community.”
She said the new bedrooms are the first increase in bed numbers since the hospice opened its doors to inpatients in December 1997.
“It comes at a time of unprecedented demand for hospice services. As soon as the new facilities opened in late January 2016, the new extension was immediately full to capacity, such has been the waiting list for these services.
“The physical environment at Galway Hospice has also changed, with a new signalled entrance from the Dublin Road, the provision of 25 additional parking spaces, the reconfiguration of the gardens, and the provision of a new enclosed sensory garden especially for Day Care patients,” said Ms Nash.
She said Home Care services remain at the heart of their specialist palliative care provision.
“In 2015, the Home Care team cared-for 642 patients in the home, through 6,325 home visits. 2015 was also a very busy year for the Inpatient Unit, with 291 admissions resulting in a bed occupancy of 92%, and an average length of stay of 13 days.
“These have been the highest levels of service ever provided by Galway Hospice, responding to the unrelenting demand for these services. Now that more inpatient beds and additional Home Care staffing have been put in place, 2016 will undoubtedly be another record-breaking year for the services, but – more importantly – a year in which the services can better meet the need for hospice/palliative care services within our community.
“Galway Hospice continues to receive an increasing number on non-cancer referrals to its services. In 2015, 28% of new patients taken on by the Home Care service had a non-cancer diagnosis, with 14% of patients admitted to the specialist Inpatient Unit having a non-cancer diagnosis.
“The extension of palliative care services to patients with a non-cancer diagnosis is following a similar pattern nationwide, and will continue to be a very valuable support to these patients for whom palliative care has proven to be very beneficial in addressing their symptom and care management,” said Ms Nash.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
