Another delay for Clonbrusk community nursing unit

Work is not expected to start on a new 50-bed unit to replace St Vincent's Care Centre in Athlone until the third quarter of next year, the HSE has confirmed, more than a year later than expected.

If this latest timeline comes to pass, it could be late 2024 before the long-awaited development is completed.

Only last month the future of the project in Clonbrusk was left in limbo after the “preferred bidder” for the Community Nursing Unit (CNU) programme nationwide, which includes the Athlone project and others, withdrew from the process.

It's since emerged that the second place bidder has accepted the “preferred bidder status” for the projects which will be developed as part of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

“Following withdrawal of the initial preferred bidder, the second place bidder has now accepted preferred bidder status and is engaging with the National PPP Project Office in this regard,” a short statement from the HSE said on Monday.

“It is anticipated that works will commence on the sites in Q3, 2022,” it added.

Initially, it had been hoped that construction on the Clonbrusk facility could begin in the first quarter of 2021, then it was pushed out to late 2021, but this latest timeline is well over a year later than the earliest prediction.

Cllr Frankie Keena, who is a member of Regional Health Forum Dublin Mid Leinster, described further delays in the construction date for the much needed 50-bed unit as “disappointing”. The Fianna Fáil public representative said he aired his fears they would have to re-tender at significantly higher costs after the preferred bidder pulled out at the recent forum meeting.

However, Cllr Keena said that “he was told the second bidder had accepted the contract, and due to the need to finalise legalities and his unavailability to start in the short-term, it was now envisaged work would start on-site in quarter three of 2022.”

The Clonbrusk facility also includes the proposed relocation of South Westmeath Hospice, something both sides have been in dispute over as the local committee fights for like-for-like facilities to what's in place currently on the grounds of St Vincent's Care Centre.

The HSE is planning to close the facility and replace it with four beds in a new community nursing unit in Clonbrusk, but the hospice committee says the current proposal is not a like-for-like replacement and would see the loss of many of the services currently provided.

Cllr Keena, who is the current Cathaoirleach of Westmeath County Council, was also informed at the Dublin Mid Leinster HSE Forum public meeting that “discussions are ongoing” with the South Westmeath Hospice committee in a bid to seek “an acceptable solution” to the proposed move of the hospice to Clonbrusk.

Back in mid-2019, the HSE indicated construction was expected to begin in the first quarter of 2021, on the new facility on land between the Clonbrusk Primary Care Centre and the Arcadia Retail Centre, continuing until quarter two in 2022, spanning a 14 to 16-month timeframe, although a subsequent planning application indicated that it would take more than two years to build. It subsequently got planning approval in October of 2019.

St Vincent's Care Centre has been the subject of much criticism from HIQA for many years now, and the HSE has always stressed it has intended to replace it with a new modern facility giving residents en-suite facilities and greater communal and personal space.

Indeed, a recent HIQA report indicated that “the centre had a restrictive condition placed on its current registration for a proposed new purpose-built facility to be completed by 31 December 2021".

Asked about this specific issue, the HSE replied: “St Vincent’s CNU has been re-registered by HIQA this year. All refurbishment works have been completed with an application to vary being made to HIQA regarding removal of the condition following completion of all works required”.

Among the accommodation to be provided in the new Clonbrusk unit are dining rooms, kitchenettes, day rooms, activities rooms, resident areas with family overnight room, visitors room, treatment room, hairdresser room etc. Other facilities will include a kitchen/laundry area, staff accommodation, extra office space, along with first-floor balcony spaces and internal courtyards.

In addition to the 50 residential beds provided, the Athlone community nursing unit proposal includes a day centre designed to cater for approximately 25 people.