About Us

History of St. Francis Hospice

The story of St. Francis Hospice began in 1988
when a need was identified for a hospice service on the northside of Dublin.
The Irish Hospice Foundation approached the Daughters of Charity seeking assistance in establishing a home care service for this area. Since then, numerous individuals, groups and organisations have provided the dedication and financial support which has enabled the service to develop from its humble roots to a comprehensive specialist palliative care service serving north Dublin City and County.

The Home Care Service (now called the Community Palliative Care Team) was established in 1989, originally based in a portacabin in the grounds of the Capuchin Friary. It provides a specialist advisory and support service to patients and their families in the environment of their own home, and complements rather than replaces the person's GP and Public Health Nurse. The service is available Monday to Friday from 09.00 - 17.00 hours.

The Capuchin Friars donated their monastery garden as a site for St. Francis Hospice and a new building was constructed in 1993, consisting of office and meeting space for the Home Care team and a purpose-built Hospice Day Care Centre. The Hospice Day Care service commenced that year, providing patients with a place to come for support and advice from the multidisciplinary team and to avail of complementary therapies. An important aspect of Hospice Day Care is the opportunity it provides for patients to meet and socialise with each other.

St. Anne's In-Patient Unit is a 19-bed facility which opened on a phased basis between 1995 and 1997. Patients may be admitted for symptom control with a view to being discharged home. Patients are also admitted to St. Anne's Unit when there is a need for specialist care and support in the terminal phase of their illness.

Bereavement support is an important element of hospice care and is offered by the multidisciplinary team of St. Francis Hospice. Support is available to relatives and friends through a monthly bereavement liturgy and a volunteer support service. Hospice social work staff are also available to work with bereaved children.

St. Francis Hospice advocates education as an important means of extending the palliative care philosophy and approach beyond the confines of a specialist palliative care service. It is our vision that the palliative care approach will be integrated into all care settings including general hospitals and care of the elderly. In keeping with this philosophy, an Education Department was formed in 1997 in order to develop a programme of courses and workshops for staff of other health care institutions as well as staff of the hospice.

Further expansion took place, beginning in 1999 with the purchase of an adjoining property, Walmer House. Then, a new phase of building was completed and opened in 2002, housing a new Hospice Day Care, Bereavement Counselling facility and Centre for Continuing Studies. In 2003 the search began for a new site in the western part of our catchment area. Plans for this site would include a second base for our Home Care Team and another Hospice Day Care facility.

The service of St. Francis Hospice is provided by a multidisciplinary team of doctors, nurses,
care assistants, social workers and chaplains. They are supported by an administrative team, ancillary services and volunteers.People with cancer or motor neurone disease may be referred to St. Francis Hospice by their GP or hospital consultant. All services of St. Francis Hospice are available at no cost to residents of North Dublin City and County regardless of their financial, social or religious status.

Partial funding for the service comes from various sources, including the Health Service Executive, Irish Hospice Foundation, Irish Cancer Society and local support groups. However, St. Francis Hospice depends to a large extent on charitable contributions, and benefits greatly from the generous support of the northside Dublin community.