Work to start on 50-bed replacement for St Vincent's in Athlone

The Government has announced that work will get underway in the coming months on the construction of the new 50-bed Community Nursing Unit in Clonbrusk, Athlone, which will replace the long-established St Vincent's Care Centre in the town.

The awarding of a contract for the Athlone project, and for six other Community Nursing Units in other parts of the country, under a public-private partnership arrangement, was announced this afternoon (Wednesday).

Work on the Athlone development is due to commence in the first three months of 2023, and the facility is scheduled to be completed before the end of 2024.

The announcement of work starting on the project was made today by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly and Minister for Mental Health and Older Persons, Mary Butler.

The Ministers said that each of the seven new Community Nursing Units being developed nationally are to be made up of "25-bed households, including single and twin bedrooms en-suite."

"Each household includes a dayroom and sunroom, dining area, break out spaces, activity spaces, quiet rooms, external spaces and staff and nursing areas.

"In addition, shared areas and therapy spaces are included with facilities including a family overnight stay room, clinical treatment rooms, physiotherapy and occupational therapy rooms and hairdressers’ rooms."

There are plans to incorporate a day centre as part of the new Community Nursing Unit in Athlone.

Equisisk, a Dublin-based company, has been appointed to design, build, finance and maintain each of the new Community Nursing Units for a 25-year period before handing back the facilities to the HSE.

Under the terms of the contract, annual payments of €24 million will be paid by the HSE to the company for each of the 25 years.

Minister Donnelly said he was delighted to announce the awarding of the contract for construction of the new facilities. "These projects focus on the delivery of a quality health and social care service across the country in appropriate settings and within the context of climate action," he commented.

"This is an exciting, state-of-the-art development for older people and their families. It represents a significant part of the HIQA Community Nursing Unit programme, and the mix of long and short-term beds will enable a person-centred approach to support older people's quality of life."

A highly controversial aspect of the Community Nursing Unit project has been the HSE's plan to close the South Westmeath Hospice, on the grounds of St Vincent's Care Centre, and to relocate the service to Clonbrusk in what the hospice committee fears would not be a like-for-like facility.

The HSE has reiterated on a number of occasions that "four Level 2 Palliative Care support beds" are to be included as part of the Clonbrusk development.

Westmeath TD Robert Troy this afternoon welcomed the awarding of the contract for the Community Nursing Unit in Athlone, saying work had taken place over a number of years in order to bring it to this stage.

"I want to pay particular thanks to my colleagues, Cllr Aengus O'Rourke and Cllr Frankie Keena, who continuously raised this (project) with me, to ensure that I kept on to Minister Donnelly to see progress in this area.

"The new facility will also include a day care centre, which will be of great benefit to Athlone and the wider community. I look forward to the work commencing early in the first quarter of 2023, with residents being able to move in in 2024.

"This is something that has been long-promised, and now we see delivery. It's important that people in later stages of life, those who can no longer or choose to no longer live in their own environs, have an opportunity to stay in a modern, quality facility in their own community.

"Certainly this will be of major benefit to people in Athlone and South Westmeath, and I warmly welcome it," said the Fianna Fáil TD from Westmeath.