A social media post recently went viral with the claim that Catholic patients won’t receive the last rites if they die after 9 p.m. at a hospital in the west of Ireland.
In a Jan. 28 post at twitter.com, the @CatholicArena account wrote: “Catholics are being warned that if they die after 9pm at Galway Hospital, they will not be able to receive the Last Rites due to budget cuts for chaplaincy.”
The account, which has attracted almost 130,000 followers since it was created in 2018, added: “Many patients have already been DENIED the Last Rites before dying due to the cuts.”
The post was illustrated with a touching photograph of a priest blessing an elderly man in a hospital bed.
What’s the background? And is the story accurate? The Pillar takes a look.
What’s the background?
The University Hospital Galway, known locally as UHG, is the primary major acute hospital serving the west of Ireland, an area with higher levels of practicing Catholics than the east of the country.
The hospital is overseen by the Health Service Executive, or HSE, Ireland’s publicly funded healthcare system.
For years, the hospital operated a 24/7 chaplaincy service, with two priests from the local Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh, and Kilfenora providing spiritual care to Catholic patients, including the last rites, which typically involve confession, the anointing of the sick, and viaticum (Holy Communion for the dying).
Priests are assigned chaplaincy roles in Ireland’s public hospitals by their dioceses, but are employed and paid by the HSE. The HSE funds chaplaincy services from its budget, which is ultimately set by the Irish government. Priests in public hospitals typically work under standard public sector contracts.
On Jan. 8, the Connacht Tribune, a newspaper based in the city of Galway, published a report with the arresting headline “Don’t die at night if you want the last rites.”
The paper said it had “learned that some patients who died unexpectedly overnight at UHG in recent months were not given the last rites due to a rationalization of the service by the HSE to comply with employment legislation.”
It reported that one patient did not receive the last rites because they were admitted to the hospital in a critical condition after 9 p.m. and were informed that no chaplain would be available until 9 a.m. the following day.
The Connacht Tribune quoted an identified priest who was familiar with the situation as saying that the HSE had a policy of “de-prioritization” of pastoral care at UHG.
The paper reported that the 24/7 chaplaincy service ended in May 2025, when the HSE reduced the chaplains’ hours to 12 hours a day, in alignment with Ireland’s public sector employment laws.
Many staff employed by the HSE have a 39-hour work week. Two HSE-employed chaplains would be able to cover less than half of the 168 hours in a week.
The only way that a 24/7 chaplaincy service could be maintained at the hospital would be for the HSE to increase its staffing. The math suggests that at least three more chaplains would be needed to restore full weekly coverage while observing the 39-hour rule.
Is the story accurate?
In late January, Ireland’s national news media followed up the Connacht Tribune’s report on UHG’s move to a 12-hour daily chaplaincy service. One or more of the reports likely inspired the @CatholicArena post.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Galway told The Pillar Feb. 2 that the media reports were “broadly accurate.”
He pointed to a statement the diocese issued ahead of the publication of the Connacht Tribune article.
It said: “The Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh, and Kilfenora continues to provide the same number of priests to the chaplaincy services at University Hospital, Galway as it has for many years. It is entirely committed to doing so into the future.”
“UHG’s recent reduction in chaplaincy provision is a hospital matter outside of the control of the diocese. We have consistently raised with the hospital our strong belief that the current provision of chaplaincy services at UHG is not on a par with similar hospitals elsewhere in the country, and stands in need of urgent attention and investment.”
“We are deeply aware of the upset caused to patients, families, and staff when the spiritual and pastoral care they rightly expect is unavailable. We remain absolutely committed to working with the hospital to assist in rectifying the present unsatisfactory situation.”
What’s next?
The Irish Independent newspaper investigated whether other public hospitals had reduced the hours of their chaplaincy services.
Was the change perhaps limited to the area covered by HSE West and North West, or had similar developments taken place in Ireland’s other five health regions?
In a Jan. 23 report, it said that it had found no evidence that other hospitals in other health regions “have, or are planning, a rationalization of chaplaincy services.”
For example, a chaplain serving at Wexford General Hospital, in the south of Ireland confirmed that the 24/7 chaplaincy service continued as before.
“There is certainly no policy of deprioritizing pastoral care in Wexford General, in fact it is quite the opposite,” he told the newspaper. “The hospital management in Wexford are hugely supportive of the chaplaincy department. I couldn’t praise them enough on that front.”
According to a Jan. 24 report by the Sunday Times, the Mater Hospital — a teaching hospital in the capital, Dublin — has reported an increase in demand for the last rites and associated pastoral care in recent years.
“For example, in December 2023, there were 46 such requests, in December 2024, 55 requests, and in December 2025, 56 requests,” it said. “This demonstrates that these services, including out-of-hours, are increasing, rather than decreasing.”
HSE West and North West told The Pillar Feb. 3: “In UHG, the chaplaincy service is currently not available on a 24/7 basis, we regret the impact that this may have on any of our patients and their families.”
It confirmed that the Catholic chaplaincy service runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day at UHG, with “no lay pastoral care service in place.”
It noted that “in order to ensure that the HSE is in compliance with relevant employment legislation, there was a change in relation to the availability of Roman Catholic chaplains, from the end of May 2025.”
It added: “Additional chaplains/pastoral care workers are required in order to provide a 24/7 service, and a business case has been submitted requesting the same, which will be considered in the context of the 2026 service plan and available resources.”
“UHG and the chaplaincy service make every effort to ensure that any patient that requires last rites are accommodated in line with their wishes in the days and hours before their death.”
It is not known when the proposal for additional chaplains at UHG will be reviewed and a decision taken. But the outcry generated by the reduction in the service suggests the last rites are still highly valued by many in the west of Ireland and beyond.
> Priests are assigned chaplaincy roles in Ireland’s public hospitals by their dioceses, but are employed and paid by the HSE
I guess that is the problem right there.
Why don't the local priests simply arrange coverage from 9pm to 9am? In our Diocese, we arrange for that with our local hospitals. I understand the desire to have support from the hospital, but don't understand the Diocese's response.