Health centre stymied by red tape

A €5 million primary health care centre in Killaloe is being strangled by Health Service Executive (HSE) red tape, a developer has claimed.
Despite securing planning permission for the construction of the new centre at Shauntraud and complying with a HSE letter of intent to proceed in 2009, John Deegan claims the project is now at a standstill due to unforeseen difficulties with the HSE.
Mr Deegan said extensive efforts to secure a meeting with the new Minister for Primary Care, Róisín Shorthall to remove the log-jam have proved unsuccessful.
In the HSE letter of intent, Mr Deegan was advised he had to secure “GP involvement” before he could proceed with the project and recently commenced negotiations with the HSE over a new lease.
However, Mr Deegan has claimed the HSE has now changed the goalposts by requesting the support of five GPs from both sides of the river in Ballina and Killaloe, despite Government sanction for a new €12m bridge connecting the two communities, which should allay any fears about delays for a Ballina GP travelling to and from the centre.
The new centre would be accessed by a new link road joining the new Killaloe bypass, providing another access route for GPs and patients coming from Ballina.
In a recent letter from Minister Shorthall’s office, it was stated the initial application in this case was from Dr Brendan Thornton, who confirmed that he and four other GPs in the area were planning to provide a primary care centre. The GP group was representative of both sides of the river, which accorded with HSE policy for the centre.
“HSE formulated a schedule of accommodation for the project based on the indicated GP involvement and also appropriate for the direct HSE staffing required to support an integrated primary care team service commensurate with that level of GP presence,” the letter stated.
The letter outlined how Dr Thornton engaged with Alpha Healthcare, who have been involved in progressing a number of primary care centre projects and subsequently brought the project to priced offer stage, acting for Mr Deegan. Their priced offer was accepted on the standard conditions for all such projects, including evidence of GP support.
“Mr Deegan elected to apply for planning permission, HSE having clarified that this was at his own cost and risk and that GP support from both sides of the river was required to make up the numbers on the basis of which the initial offer was accepted.
“It became apparent that the GPs on the Ballina side of the river were no longer supportive of the proposal. I have recently become aware that Alpha Healthcare, to whom our letter of priced offer acceptance is addressed, have confirmed to Mr Deegan some time ago that they are no longer pursuing the project due to insufficient GP interest,” the official stated.
However, Mr Deegan has taken issue with a number of claims in this letter, stating that he and not Dr Thornton had engaged in a contract with Alpha Healthcare to bring the project to a certain stage.
He pointed out the initial declaration by the five GPs confirmed their support in principle for the project before he got involved and before planning permission was granted for this project.
Having secured support from two Killaloe practices with general medical scheme lists, Mr Deegan believes GPs in Ballina will also come on board now that the new bridge has been approved.

He claimed other primary health care centres had got the green light from the HSE despite having only one GP in the centre.
The Clare Champion has learned that the HSE has given the go-ahead to a much smaller centre near St Mary’s Park in Limerick City with only one GP and another similar facility on the North Circular Road with two signed up GPs.
The HSE had not responded to a Clare Champion query at the time of going to press, while efforts to secure a statement from Minister Shorthall also proved unsuccessful.
A spokeswoman for the GP facility at Grange Road, Ballina, said on Wednesday that Dr Thornton was away on leave and the other two doctors were also out of the office that day.