The HSE admits there are staffing issues at Regina House in Kilrush, but insists that the maximum amount of two people are receiving palliative care there.
The Executive has released the following statement this lunchtime, in response to local media reports.
HSE Area Manager for the Mid West, Bernard Gloster, said, “We have to be absolutely definitive and clear on such a sensitive issue. The following are the facts and we are anxious to assure the public. Regina House has capacity to support two people in palliative care at any one time. Today, there are two people in the Centre receiving palliative care. No person at home who requires a palliative care bed in Regina House has been refused since a particular staffing pressure arose in late summer. There was one query on a possible transfer of a patient in a palliative care bed in another Unit in the County to Regina House but this could not be accommodated because they already had two people receiving such care. The two patients in Regina House are not in the dedicated Palliative Care Unit because of clinical and personal reasons and, were these reasons not so, then one could be catered for in the dedicated Unit and the other as soon as the staffing pressure is resolved which we hope will be very shortly.”
The staffing pressure is as a result of 1 ½ posts currently unavailable due to long term sick leave. While almost all of the agency requested by the Unit has been approved, the supply agency have been unable to meet the demand. It is anticipated the agency will be able to meet the demand shortly.
Palliative care support at Regina house is one part of an overall service across the County and the Mid West. There are support beds in Cahercalla, Ennistymon and Scariff. Between them, they have supported 68 admissions in 2012, 87 in 2013 and 59 up to August 2014. The specialist needs of the public for inpatient Consultant provided care are met through Milford Care Centre, funded by the HSE. They have responded to 85 admissions from the County in the current year to August. The crucial part of modern day Palliative Care is the Hospice at Home service and in the current year to August they have had 166 referrals. This is a HSE funded service provided by Milford.
Staffing pressures have also, because of unavailability of agency staff and the natural high annual leave time of year, caused a pressure for respite care in Regina House. This has meant that three respite beds have been unavailable since late summer. This resulted in a short delay for up to 20 people rather than cancellation of respite. In any situation where there would be pressure on a family the case would be prioritised or offered respite in an alternative location.
While we approve agency replacement to a very high rate the difficulty is that we can’t always get it. In such situations we manage the clinical need rather than simply cancel services. The staffing availability should further improve as we are currently implementing a better model of deployment in how we use the staff we have and this is in all our elderly care facilities.
We would like to acknowledge the efforts of the West Clare Mini Marathon Committee in raising funds for cancer care in West Care and the valuable support offered to Regina House at various times for capital and equipment.
We regret any upset caused to the people of Clare due to the nature of how these issues were communicated.
