Vacant Cork office building to be converted into enhanced community care centre 

If the deal is agreed upon, the HSE said it is envisaged that 'practical completion' of the building Ballincollig's Old Fort Road, opposite Tesco, will occur in the third quarter of this year.

The HSE plans to open a new multi-million enhanced community care (ECC) centre in a vacant office building in Cork that will treat older people and those with chronic disease closer to home.

The HSE said the facility earmarked for a building in Ballincollig is subject to ongoing negotiation with the developer.

But in a statement, it said if the deal is agreed upon, it is envisaged that “practical completion” of the building on the town’s Old Fort Road, opposite Tesco, will occur in the third quarter of this year.

“The building would then be handed over to Cork Kerry Community Healthcare for fit-out of clinical equipment and furniture,” it said.

It is hoped that the facility will open a short a time later.

Planning

The news comes following the lodging by O’Flynn Construction of a planning application with Cork City Council for the construction of a temporary car park for four years “to serve a HSE enhanced community facility” in the office building it developed on the site some years ago. A planning decision is expected by the end of March.

The building is one of several office blocks for which the company has planning to develop on its Westfield site but it is the only one built there to date. It remains unoccupied.

The company was granted planning by the council last August for a change of use of the building from office use to allow for medical use to include consulting suites/clinics, physiotherapy/gym areas, storage, reception, meeting rooms, staff canteen, and ancillary office/administrative areas and associated site works.

In a statement to the Irish Examiner, the HSE confirmed for the first time that it hopes this building will be among the four ECC facilities it is developing in Cork — the Ballincollig facility to service Cork South, one in Bantry to service West Cork, one in St Mary's Campus to cover north Cork City, and one in Mallow to cover Cork North.

Specialist healthcare teams

The centres will provide a permanent home for chronic disease and older persons community-based specialist healthcare teams which will include consultants, specialist nurses, health and social care professionals and support staff offering one-to-one and group consultations, as well as structured education programmes and community-based rehab services.

“The objective of the specialist teams is to provide an integrated model of care that treats people at the lowest level of complexity that is safe, timely, efficient and as close to home as possible,” the HSE said.

“As well as the specialist service being provided to older people, the teams will focus on improving the standard of care for four major chronic diseases that affect over one million people in Ireland — cardiovascular disease, diabetes (type II), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.” 

The development of ECC’s is in line with government policy on healthcare reform, as outlined in Sláintecare, which sets out the need to develop integrated community-based services.

The HSE said working in a shared location benefits communication and economy of scale in sharing of facilities.