FOUR years after a promise was made that a new community hospital would be provided in Killarney by 2021, the sod has still not been turned at the proposed site and no visible progress has been made on-the-ground with the project.
In February 2017, Kerry TDs were informed of a timeframe for the new community medical facility as part of a plan to replace and refurbish nursing homes around the country over a five-year period.
“Under this programme, it is proposed to deliver a new community hospital unit in Killarney by 2021. This will replace the existing facilities where the physical environment requires significant improvement,” the Department of Health said at the time.
The department outlined the various stages that had to be implemented, including appraisal, determining the project brief, design feasibility, detailed design and financing.
Welcoming the plans four years ago, Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae, said the shortage of long-term beds for the elderly in Killarney had reached “crisis level” and that the new unit was needed urgently.
It emerged at a recent HSE meeting that no date has been decided for site clearance or construction work to commence on a new community nursing unit.
HSE officials said tenders for the contract have been published but they are not in a position to give a starting date.
KillarneyToday.com first revealed in 2017 that the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive had a four-year plan to build the facility to replace the existing Killarney Community Hospital which has recently been criticised by HIQA for lacking adequate space and facilities.
Planning permission for the development was sought in August 2019 and approved the following April.
The new 10,045sq m facility, on a section of land within the former St Finan’s Hospital complex, was to include 130 en-suite bedrooms with 30 rooms reserved for residents with dementia.
The plans outlined in the initial stages of the planning application also included dining rooms, kitchenettes, day rooms, a spacious treatment room, a hairdressing salon, a laundry, an overnight room for families and a visitors’ room.
Provision was also made for internal courtyards and first floor terraces, kitchens, staff accommodation, office space and parking for 195 vehicles.
If and when work does start, the planned development will have a new access road from Upper Lewis Road to include a revised internal roadway.
Permission has also been granted for the demolition of two existing farm buildings on the site, landscaping, the provision of an ESB substation and a new waste storage area.
The site earmarked for the new development was previously used by Killarney Celtic FC, in agreement with the HSE, and it runs alongside a section of the Killarney bypass road just beyond the turn-off for Fitzgerald Stadium.
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