Major funding boost for Tipperary hospital St. Theresa's in Clogheen

There has been a huge welcome for the allocation of €800,000 in funding for St. Theresa's Hospital in Clogheen.

The funding will allow the latest upgrade to the hospital to be completed.

Local councillor Marie Murphy and Independent TD Mattie McGrath have led the chorus of approval for the vital allocation.

Cllr Murphy said she was absolutely delighted with the funding.

Planning permission was granted by Tipperary County Council for an extension to St Theresa’s Hospital in April  2017.  These plans included the upgrading of existing facilities to meet HIQA standards.  

Works on Phase 1A have been ongoing since June  2018 and this work was almost entirely funded by local fundraising, through the Friend’s of St. Theresa’s, Clogheen Hospice Suite Construction Fund, Boston Scientific, South Tipperary Hospice and some private donations.

 Major improvements have taken place in recent years partly funded by Friend’s of St. Theresa’s under the direction of Sr Aine Power (now retired) who was Matron for a number of years. 

These include a new day room, Oratory, administrative office and a Hospice suite which were officially opened in 1999.  

 Cllr Murphy said that ‘St Theresa’s is a Designated Centre for Older People and first got HIQA status in February 2016 following tremendous work by the then Director of Services, Anne Halley, current Acting Director of Services, Anne Walsh and all the staff. 

 An inspection of the facility on July 25 and 26, 2018 found that St Theresa’s was mainly compliant and that the staff there were excellent but that there were issues due to the age of the building.   

 Cllr Murphy added  “I extended an invitation to Minister Simon Harris to visit St Theresa’s  so that he could see for himself the fabulous facilities there and Minister Harris took up this invitation in September 2017.  

Minister Harris was given a tour of the hospital by the acting Director of Nursing, Anne Walsh and then he was shown the plans for the extension which were on display in the day room”.  

During his visit, Cllr Murphy highlighted to Minister Harris the massive fundraising which had been undertaken by various groups such as the Friends of St. Theresa’s, Clogheen Hospice Suite Construction Fund, Boston Scientific and South Tipperary Hospice.  

Representatives of these groups were there to meet with Minister Harris to emphasis the benefits this wonderful facility provides.

Cllr Murphy added - “Down through the years many families have benefited from the care received in St Theresa’s, my own family included. 

“I have a major affinity to St Theresa’s Hospital as my mother spent the last thirteen weeks of her life in the hospice room and the care Mam received was second to none and for that we as a family are eternally grateful.

  I have lobbied both Minister Simon Harris, Minister for Health and Minister Jim Daly, Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People for Capital funding for St Theresa’s and I’m thrilled that the funding announced by the HSE in the past week will ensure the future of this vital facility and many more families will benefit from the exceptional care provided by the 29 staff.

Deputy Mattie McGrath also welcomed the announcement and said that following an extremely long and protracted negotiation period with both the Health Service Executive officials and Minister Harris, it was encouraging to see progress on the development of infrastructure at St Theresa’s Hospital  is progressing and this extra €800,000 from the HSE will help deliver on the full plans for the Hospital. 　

He continued - “This is wonderful news and I along with others, have worked extremely hard over the last number of years to ensure that this funding could be secured. 

“I would like to thank all of the HSE officials and management for engaging with us over the last number of years but most importantly I want to compliment Ann Walsh, Acting Matron and previous Matrons Ann Hally and Sister Aine who put so much work into getting this wonderful project to this stage.

“I also want to pay tribute to the local community who have worked so hard to fundraise for St Theresa’s which would not have been possible without their support. It is great to see their commitment paying off with construction under way. It is a testament to the high regard that St Theresa's hospital is held in by the local community.

“The public will be aware that a massive and very successful fundraising campaign spearheaded by Ardfinnan native Keith Savage and a local committee, the Friends of St Theresa’s Hospital, local donations and other fundraising events, raised funds to further develop services at Clogheen including extra Hospice Suites. 

“We can now visibly see works in progress which will foresee enhanced conditions for patients and indeed staff in general”.