Galway Hospice is to become fully funded by the State from next year – meaning that it will no longer have to cover payroll costs for its staff of more than 150 people.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly announced this week that Galway will be one of four adult hospices in the country which will be redesignated in February.

This means the palliative care provider will no longer have to fund its own payroll costs – which last year totalled almost €9.3 million for 153 staff. The total expenditure for 2022 was more than €12.2m.

Galway West TD Hildegarde Naughton told the Galway City Tribune: “It will mean that monies fundraised by Galway Hospice are not required to fund payroll or other operational costs [electricity, heating, etc].

“While Galway Hospice previously did receive funding from the State, it did not cover payroll costs etc and was not a sustainable situation.  The purpose of redesignating the four hospices is to ensure that there is a sustainable model of care for adult specialist palliative care services. It also recognises that hospice / palliative care is a core service,” Minister Naughton indicated.
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