Concerns raised over Tullamore based Midland's Hospice

A submission has been lodged with Offaly County Council in relation to a proposal to build a hospice serving the Midland counties of Offaly, Laois, Westmeath and Longford. The site is on a plot of land at Arden Lane in Tullamore.

A couple who live opposite the proposed site have issues relating to traffic and loss of privacy. In their submission they write, ''we are in full agreement with the site on Arden Lane for the Offaly Hospice. Our concern is the entrance to the hospice which is directly opposite our house and it will affect our boundary.

We are concerned about our privacy and traffic coming to and from the hospice which directly impacts our living area. At present there is already an entrance been used for access to the site, this entrance doesn't impact any houses on the lane and we would like the entrance moved to this entrance.''

Last week the Minister for Health Jannifer Carroll McNeill backed the location for the proposed hospice, an application for which is currently under consideration by Offaly County Council.

The site was chosen by the Health Service Executive. Dr Pauline Kane, Palliative Medicine Consultant for the HSE said: ''The Midlands Hospice will give the specialist palliative care service the ability to provide intensive symptom support and multi-disciplinary input to patients with challenging symptoms in a more appropriate environment than an acute hospital. This is a hugely important development for our patients and their families to have this facility and we are looking forward to it becoming a reality very soon,'' she said.

The HSE says the main features of the proposed hospice will be a ''much needed'' 20 bed specialist palliative care inpatient unit, a day therapy unit and an education centre. ''Because of its location and the size of the site, there will be extensive landscaping of the grounds, and each inpatient bedroom will be on the ground floor with direct access to an individual outdoor area.''

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The facility will care for all patients with chronic, progressive conditions with a limited prognosis, and can be accessed much earlier in a patient’s illness, rather than just in the last days of life.