The reopening of the Galway Hospice has renewed attention on the Mayo Roscommon Hospice unit at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Castlebar, which has been closed since May 2001 due to a lack of medical cover for the two-bed unit.
The Western Health Board has said that every effort has been made to secure a medical officer to provide medical cover for the unit. The post has been advertised nationally on a number of occasions without success. The health board has also said it has not experienced any difficulty in filling medical officer posts at the same grade in any other location in the board's area.
A board official said efforts were made to have the service provided by GPs in Castlebar but this has not proved possible so far.
The official ruled out suggestions that an alleged dispute between the health board and GPs in Castlebar was at the root of the problems in securing medical cover for the hospice unit. Medical cover for the hospice beds at Belmullet and Ballina district hospitals is provided by local GPs.
The hospice unit in Castlebar was opened in January 1999 following a major fundraising drive by the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation and had an occupancy rate of 95 per cent.
The foundation said it was a source of great frustration that the unit remained closed.
"But until such time as a consultant-led palliative care service is in place in the Mayo-Roscommon region, it is unlikely that the beds will be reopened," a spokesperson has said. The foundation has already given a commitment to part-fund this consultant post, at a cost of €300,000 per annum for three years.
According to the health board, the reopening of the hospice unit in Castlebar "remains a high priority". The board is also awaiting the outcome of an application for a consultant in palliative care post in Mayo General Hospital from Comhairle na nOspidéal.