Community nursing facility to be run by private sector

ONE of the country’s first new community nursing units (CNUs), which are designed to ease pressure on acute hospital beds, will be run by the private sector.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) blamed the Government’s public service recruitment ban, which means that it can’t hire the people to staff it.

The HSE is building four CNUs in Cork as part of a major €112 million investment in 12 such CNUs nationwide, which are designed to free up public beds in public hospitals.

The CNUs will allow hospitals discharge patients to more appropriate care facilities when acute hospital care is no longer required.

The four CNUs in Cork are being built in Ballincollig, at St Finbarr’s Hospital, at St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital and at Farranlea Road.

Construction on the Ballincollig unit is almost complete.

However, the HSE has confirmed that because of the Government’s public service recruitment ban, which is designed to cap or reduce the numbers employed in the public service, it can’t staff the Ballincollig unit from within the existing HSE staff complement.

“In order to ensure this new facility can open in a timely manner and provide a service for older people, the HSE is seeking to secure a ‘total managed service’ through a public procurement process,” a spokesman confirmed last night.

The tender specification is being prepared and successful bidders, from either the voluntary or private sector, will be obliged to provide a service on behalf of the HSE under the terms of a comprehensive contract, the HSE said.

The contract entered into will determine how the service is to be provided and managed on behalf of the HSE by the successful candidates.

The spokesman defended the move and said the decision to hand the management over will ensure the unit opens sooner, rather than later.

“The opening of the CNU in Ballincollig will provide a significant employment opportunity in the area with the creation of more than 100 jobs as well as opportunities for local suppliers,” he said.

It will also improve access to publicly funded continuing care beds and significantly impact on the effective use of acute beds in the Cork city region, he added.