Planning granted for Nenagh nursing home

Construction of a new 50-bed nursing home beside Nenagh hospital is to get underway next September with a view to being open in 2022.
Planning permission for the €9 million project, which is to replace the existing St Conlon's Community Nursing Unit on Church Road, was granted last Wednesday. It is one of a number of new public health projects in train for Nenagh, along with a 24-bed extension of the hospital and a new primary care centre.  
Local TD Alan Kelly this week met with Minister of State for Mental Health & Older People Jim Daly and senior HSE officials to discuss the Nenagh project – and also hopes of providing a new nursing home in Roscrea.
Deputy Kelly said he was assured that despite the funding issues around building a new children's hospital in Dublin, the HSE would be in a position to appoint a contractor for Nenagh's new nursing home next year. 
Tipperary Co Council has granted conditional permission for the nursing home plan, which includes parking provision for 70 cars among a wide range of other features. Deputy Kelly said the contractor would be on site and ready to build by next September. He anticipated that the facility would be fully complete in early 2022. 
Welcoming the progress on this project, which he first announced when a government minister in 2016, Deputy Kelly was also glad to report a timeline for completion of the 24-bed extension at Nenagh hospital. The €4.6 million development comprises 16 single and four double-occupancy en suite rooms for inpatients. Construction began in 2015 but suffered a major setback in 2017 when the main contractor ran into financial difficulty. 

Following the appointment last year of a new contractor, Deputy Kelly this week confirmed that the extension should be complete by late May or early June 2020. He added that HSE officials informed him that they are very happy with the work taking place at Nenagh hospital and praiseworthy of the hospital's management and staff.
The local TD said progress is also being made on the provision of a new primary care centre for Nenagh. Earlier this year, the HSE sought submissions for the development of a facility in the town as part of its primary care infrastructure. Deputy Kelly said bids for the location of the new centre could be expected in January. 
Regarding Roscrea, Deputy Kelly said he arranged a meeting between Minister Daly and Tipperary's five TDs along with representatives of the municipal districts. He understood that there would be a review of the planned changes to nursing home standards, which are due to come into effect in 2021. These would result in the end of long-stay care at the Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Unit, as it would no longer comply with the required standards. 
But Deputy Kelly said there would be a new Sláintecare report indicating a need for more nursing home beds in Tipperary, which he welcomed. He impressed upon the minister the need to keep Dean Maxwell operating as it is until such time as a capital allocation is made for a new public nursing home in Roscrea. This would also have to be a 50-bed facility.
Deputy Kelly said the existing Dean Maxwell home would have to be expanded or, if necessary, construction of a new nursing home would take place elsewhere in the town of Roscrea.