€3m needed for hospital redevelopment

Ennistymon Community Hospital needs €3 million if it is to comply with Health Information and Quality Authority guidelines published two years ago and remain open beyond 2014.

Local group Friends of Ennistymon Hospital Committee has been involved in funding improvements and repairs of the HSE building and its equipment in the past. However, the committee consists of just six people and they say the required €3m is not within their fundraising range.
HIQA, the independent authority established to drive improvement in Ireland’s health and social care services, launched the National Quality Standards for Residential Care Settings for Older People in Ireland in February 2009.
Under these guidelines, bedrooms that are currently shared should not have any more than two residents, except in the case of high-dependency rooms, which can accommodate up to six residents in need of 24-hour high-support nursing care.
Ennistymon Community Hospital, which is owned and run by the HSE, has the capacity to facilitate 28 people. It has two main wards, accommodating eight men and eight women, with a further twin room attached to each ward. There are also two single-occupancy palliative care rooms and two respite rooms, one holding two patients and one holding four. In order to meet HIQA care environment standards, large-scale changes must be made to the existing hospital building.
The Friends of Ennistymon Community Hospital held a meeting before Christmas with members of the Clare and Limerick HSE.
“HIQA inspects the hospital. They have been here twice in the last two years. The existing ward accommodation has to be changed to make way for a new development of all rooms en suite for patients at a ratio of 80% single rooms, 20% double for our 28 patients. The project would have to be completed by 2014,” explained Tomsie O’Sullivan, secretary of the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital Committee.
In the past, The Friends of Ennistymon Hospital has been involved in the supply and restoration of equipment at both the hospital and daycare centre. More recently, the group has been involved in structural developments.
These included the building of the daycare community centre, the development of separate male and female toilets, building two palliative care rooms, a six-bed respite unit including a four-bedroom and a two-bedroom, adding patios to each of the male and female wards and front entrance, building an oratory and reconstructing the old laundry room to a recreational room.
“For the latest phase of structural development that we have been asked to get involved with, it has been estimated by the HSE that this project could cost €3m. This type of fundraising development is totally beyond our reach so we are in discussions with the Department of Health, the HSE West and the local Friends of Ennistymon Hospital to see what progress can be made to achieve this,” Mr O’Sullivan continued.
If the changes are not made to the building, the community hospital will not comply with the National Quality Standards for Residential Care Settings for Older People in Ireland and is likely to have to close.