Work may start on Athlone health campus in March

The HSE and the agents for the developers of the proposed Primary Care centre in Clonbrusk have both maintained this week that the project is going ahead this year, amid growing uncertainty whether work would ever start on the health infrastructure. The confirmation came after fears were raised that the project could be scrapped after it was not included in the HSE Service Plan 2012 as one of the primary care facilities to be under construction or completed during the year. Last year, the HSE scrapped plans for its own primary care project and put the site up for sale on the condition that a developer would build a primary care centre and lease it back to the health authorities. A spokesperson for the Roscommon-based Collins Boyd Engineering, the agent and architects of the project on behalf of the company which bought the site, Ath Medical Partnership, stressed this week: "The job is going ahead. There is an agreement there with the HSE." Although there is no definite start date for commencement of the project at this stage, the spokesperson stated they are working on a number of issues in relation to the planning conditions, and they are hopeful of work starting over the next few months but would not be drawn on HSE claims that construction will begin in March. "The HSE has signed the agreement for the Clonbrusk development with the developer, so therefore is contracted to lease the premises once it is completed," a statement from health authorities confirmed this week. "We expect the construction to commence in March. Specific questions relating to the timeline of the construction should be directed to the developer," it concluded. I'st thought up to 100 people could be employed on the 1.22 hectare site once work finally begins on the two-storey primary, community and continuing care health centre comprising of 4,330 square metres, down from the 6,000 plus square metres from the original planning proposals which were scrapped in 2010 due to a lack of funding. In June last year, Ath Medical Partnership, Galway Road in Roscommon was granted planning permission to develop the revised primary care facility at the controversial Clonbrusk site. A Roscommon-based contractor is already in place to build the centre. Among the services earmarked in the new primary care facility include outpatient services, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry/chiropody, mental health outpatient services, dentistry and pediatrics with designated children's health area. It will also house speech and language services, MIDOC GP out-of-hours base, rehabilitation services, district nursing, homecare teams, social care teams, three GP suites and a dispensing pharmacy. 120 car parking spaces are also earmarked for the rear of the new building.