Western Health Board CEO Dr Sheelah Ryan has said that there is extensive work going on behind the scenes to enable the reopening of the inpatient unit of the Galway Hospice.
However, she added that she could not give an exact timescale. The unit has been closed to new patients for the past 11 months.
Dr Ryan also expressed optimism that the unit will be the first in the Irish hospice system to attain national accreditation.
Speaking for the first time since the publication of a report by an independent review group set up to investigate the problems that led to the closure of the unit, Dr Ryan said work had already begun between the Western Health Board executive and Galway Hospice Foundation on implementing the 65 recommendations made by the group.
She said the consultant in palliative care, Dr Dympna Waldron - who highlighted the problems relating to medical errors at the unit - was working closely with the newly appointed director of nursing and the chief executive of the facility to plan for the recommencement of admissions.
"This has been a difficult period for the palliative care services in the west, but from adversity often comes growth. We have learned from the experience, and can now look to a future where patients receive a high-quality service based on best practice and safe systems. As palliative care services evolve nationally, others too will learn and benefit from our experience," said Dr Ryan.
She said the issues involved in the shift from a more traditional model of hospice care to one of providing specialist palliative-care beds under the leadership of a consultant would be better understood and managed as a result of the Galway experience.
The Western Health Board had earmarked €2.6 million at the beginning of 2003 for the full funding of 12 beds at the Galway Hospice, and by the end of the year it had paid some €1.9 million towards the running costs of the reduced inpatient service.
During the period from last June to December, Dr Ryan explained that the revenue allocation provided by the board covered the maintenance of the one inpatient at the unit, investment in essential equipment, training of staff and upgrading of the inpatient unit for the first time since it opened seven years ago.
Dr Ryan said the board's separate investigation into non-clinical issues was still ongoing and was due for completion by mid-May.
She said the main priority for the hospice now was to clarify the roles and responsibilities of various individuals within the organisation, to ensure that safe systems were put in place for patient care, and to have skilled people working together as a team for the benefit of the patients.
A number of members of the health board yesterday voiced their concerns at the ongoing closure of the inpatient facility to terminally ill patients in the west, and called on the CEO to do what she could to have the unit reopened as quickly as possible.
