A new €7.7 palliative care unit, part funded by JP McManus, is to be built in Co Limerick.
Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said on Monday that Milford Care Centre is to build a 34-bed in-patient palliative care unit, which will serve the Mid-West region. It will also expand its not-for-profit nursing home.
The hospice will cost an estimated €7.7million, and the JP McManus Benevolent Fund and the JP McManus Pro-Am Ireland 2010 are to contribute €3.4 million to the project, said Mr Noonan.
The nursing home expansion will cost €0.8 million, which is to be funded by the home. This brings the total cost of the Milford developments to €8.5 million.
Both the new hospice in-patient unit and the upgraded nursing home will have only single occupancy rooms. The full project is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.
Milford Care Centre is the designated provider of consultant-led and multi-disciplined specialist palliative care in North Tipperary, Clare and Limerick.
Mr Noonan said the state-of-the-art development reflects the core values of MCC: to ensure the utmost respect and dignity for patients and their families.
“I am aware of very many people throughout the Mid-West who have received wonderful patient-focused attention and care from staff in the hospice at Milford, in local support bed units and nursing homes, and also in their own homes, since the service was established by the Little Company of Mary in 1977,” he said.
Mr Noonan paid tribute to the JP McManus Benevolent Fund and the JP McManus Pro-Am Ireland 2010 for their support.
“The balance of funding for the hospice will come from Milford’s existing capital resources, which have been earmarked for infrastructural projects, and from an additional fundraising target of €2 million over four years,” he said.
Mr Noonan also welcomed the 21 additional beds within Milford Nursing Home.
Welcoming the expansion, Jan O’Sullivan, Minister for Education and Skills, said the project is set to bring significant benefits to people throughout Limerick city and county and beyond.
“Last year alone, more than half of new referrals to the Milford hospice service were from Limerick. MCC’s Hospice at Home team actively treated patients residing in the community, as well as those in palliative care support-beds units and nursing homes throughout the county, caring for 658 patients and carrying out more than 7,940 home visits in Limerick in 2014,” she said.
Sue Ann Foley, head of the JP McManus Benevolent Fund, said: "Milford Hospice has touched the lives of people and communities right across the region and is synonymous with loving care for patients and families at a difficult time in their lives.
“With demand for its services growing steadily and, increasingly, coming from people with non-cancer conditions, it is indeed a most worthy cause for support,” she said.