Plans for the long-awaited Midlands Hospice have been submitted to Offaly County Council.
The 20-bed specialist palliative care inpatient unit will be located at a site at Arden Lane in Tullamore.
The hospice will primarily be available to patients living in Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath.
The midlands is the only region in the country still without in-patient palliative care services.
The facility will also have a day therapy unit and an education centre.
"Having a specialist palliative care inpatient unit in the midlands will mean that our local specialist palliative care teams will have the full range of services available to patients" said Dr Pauline Kane, Consultant in Palliative Medicine.
"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," Dr Kane said.
