Plans for third city private hospital

TALKS are at an advanced stage for the development of a third new private hospital in Limerick.

The 118-bed facility will be built in the grounds of the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Dooradoyle.

Two other private hospitals are expected to be completed next year in the grounds of Adare Manor and at Corcanree, near Mungret.

Junior Health Minister Tim O’Malley said yesterday: “Contracts are on track for completion early next year for a new 118-bed hospital at Limerick Regional Hospital. The plan is to increase the number of beds available in public hospitals by co-locating private hospitals alongside public hospitals.”

He said a large number of expressions of interest have been received during the tender process to build and operate a private hospital in Dooradoyle.

Mr O’Malley said: “The HSE is now in the process of evaluating proposal and short-listing bidders. When the new hospital is completed through the government’s co-location initiative it will result in at least 118 private beds being freed-up for public patients in Limerick’s Mid-Western Regional Hospital.”

Mr O’Malley said the co-location policy is a very cost-effective way of getting investment in health and making new beds available.

He said: “The capital costs will be met by the private sector, which will also pay full commercial value for the lease of public land.”

The clinic at Adare Manor has been given the green light by An Bord Pleanála who have endorsed the planning approval by Limerick County Council and dismissed an objection lodged by a Cork-based engineer.

The new clinic will cost €100 million to construct and will have capacity to cater for 100 patients.

The new Adare Hospital and Clinic will be built on a 23-acre site within the grounds of Adare Manor which covers 840 acres.

The hospital has been designed by the award winning US firm of Payette Architects who have also carried out work for the Mayo Clinic and Harvard University.

Construction is already underway of a private hospital at the Dock Road.

Limerick developer Shay Sweeney of Blackberry Properties is investing more than €100m to built a 95-bed private clinic.

The chief executive, Mary Fitzgerald, was previously responsible for more than 3,000 employees at the prestigious Loyola University Medical Centre in Chicago.

She said: “Our hospital will be operated to the standards of the joint Commission of International Standards for Accreditation. This is one of the foremost authorities on quality standards in the healthcare sector.”

Mr Sweeney has expressed an interest in entering a partnership with the HSE whereby his hospital could fulfil the co-location policy of the Government due to its proximity to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital.