Ambitious plans unveiled for half built hospital outside Tullamore

Ambitious plans have been unveiled for the half built private hospital outside Tullamore

John Flanagan Developments has announced that it will lodge a planning application for a state-of-the-art Nursing Home/Rehabilitation and step down facility this week on the site known locally as Wellwood Health Park. The site is located immediately off the town N52 by-pass.

Designed by Tullamore firm, Axis Architects and Fearon O’Neill Rooney structural engineers who were also the original engineers on the private hospital project.

The project is designed to use the existing steel frame structure. The Nursing home/Rehabilitation/stepdown facility will have 244 bedrooms in a 14,000 m2 building and on a five acre site will cost circa €36m to develop and employ 270 persons across all shifts .

It will cost in the region of €36 million to develop.

John Flanagan Developments originally planned a private hospital on this site back in 2007. It did not proceed due to the global economic crash despite huge interest from leading medical operators from around Europe.

The rationale for developing a Nursing home/Rehabilitation/Step down facility makes sense on the Health Care Park say the directors of John Flanagan Developments as nationally there is a huge shortage of nursing home and hospital beds.

The 2016 Census showed the population aged over 65 had increased by 19.1pc since 2011 and the projection is that the number of people over the age of 80 will have risen by 130,000 by end 2020. Healthcare experts predicts a total shortfall of 7,500 nursing home beds nationwide by 2026.

People over 80 use the health services more and the costs of care for that cohort are two to three times of those under 60. International figures suggest that between 18pc and 22pc of over 84-year-olds need residential long-term care. It’s very positive people are living longer but with that there are challenges.

Stepdown/Rehabilitation also makes sense due to the growing body of evidence that rehabilitation in specialised environments is not only effective but cost effective. This has been demonstrated in a variety of settings, such as in-patient units and community teams, and in different diagnostic groups.

John Flanagan Developments are in contact with numerous interested operators via their agents who see the potential of the facility due to, scale, proximity of the development to the Regional Hospital, its location off the N52 and the location of Tullamore in the centre of the country is all very positive