€23.25m to build nursing home described as ‘comedy money’

€23.25m to build nursing home described as ‘comedy money’

By Hayden Moore

THE HSE has revealed that the capital cost allocated for the newly developed Tymon North Community Nursing Home is €23.25 million, with it being slammed by a local councillor as “comedy money”.

The new 100-bed community nursing unit in Tallaght recently completed the initial phase of construction and according to the HSE the next stage of installing equipment and furnishing will be wrapped up by the end of 2019.

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The new nursing home facility in Tymon has a capital cost of €23.25 million

Just over half of the beds in Tymon are expected to be used in housing older people from the St Brigid’s Nursing Home Crooksling, in Brittas – with the HSE planning to put that site on the market next year.

Member of the Dublin Mid-Leinster Regional Health Forum and Fianna Fáil councillor for Firhouse-Bohernabreena, Deirdre O’Donovan, spoke with The Echo about the “complete lack of vision” to splurge €23 million on the site in Tymon.

“I’m part of the Crooksling Petition Group and of course I welcome a public facility like this in Tymon, but when there is already an incredibly unique facility just 10 minutes down the road from Tallaght Hospital it just doesn’t make sense,” said Cllr O’Donovan.

“Crooksling is a site full of little unique buildings that could have been upgraded and brought up to spec for a fraction of the cost that the Tymon facility is costing.

“This shows a complete lack of vision, ambition and understanding from both the government and the HSE to put a nursing facility right in the middle of an estate, an urban area that is already under pressure when it comes to parking, infrastructure and so on.

“It shows a lack of understanding for nursing-care facilities, pumping €23 million into a 100-bed nursing home in the middle of an estate is just madness, that is comedy money – absolute comedy money.”

Talking about the need for nursing care units with an aging population, Cllr O’Donovan said: “The day after Tymon is finished it will be full, because there are 50 people from Crooksling moving down and then there is still going to be just as much of a need for people trying to find private nursing home care facilities – where are those people supposed to go?

“My own grandmother ended her days in Crooksling, which is a much more suitable and dignified location than in what is essentially a carpark in Tymon because that’s exactly what it is, a carpark and how can anybody be expected to live out their final days there?”

Installing of equipment and furnishing the unit is currently underway and according to the HSE, “when the commissioning stage of the building is finalised it will enable the registration process of the unit to be initiated via the regulator, the Health and Information and Quality Authority.”

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