Planning permission sought for Athlone"s health campus

A formal planning application will be lodged with Athlone Town Council in the next day or so for the new €22m Clonbrusk Community Primary Care Network. The long-awaited development has been heralded this week as a 'massive step in the right direction for health facilities' in the town.Speaking to the Westmeath Independent, Councillor Kevin "Boxer" Moran said the designs for the project, led by A&D Wejchert and Partners Architects, will be submitted to the council in the next few days and all local public representatives are due to be briefed on the project tomorrow (Thursday) by HSE Local Health Manager in Longford/Westmeath Joe Ruane.Despite the fact the 6,400 square metre building is a scaled back version of the original plans and will not house local doctors, who withdrew from the project prior to this juncture, the list of services to be provided in the centre is still significant. Among these are the MIDOC GP out of hours service, Mental Health Outpatient Services, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Dentistry and Radiology. Homecare, social work, speech and language therapy teams, rehabilitation services, out-patients, opthalmology, orthoptics and paediatrics among others will also be accommodated in Clonbrusk. The services will be provided in two distinct blocks, separated by a glazed atrium. The buildings will be part three and part four storeys. The HSE also confirmed this week that the €22million funding has been ring fenced for the project and is secure. A new €1.5 million Disability Resource Centre on the same site is expected to be handed over to the HSE shortly and is expected to be in use in June. 'I welcome it. It"s a long time going on but I"m not going over old ground. We are where we are now. It"s a marvellous week in terms of improving Athlone"s health infrastructure and I want to pay tribute to Joe Ruane in that regard,' Councillor Kevin "Boxer" Moran commented this week. Cllr Moran said he has been assured on more than one occasion by health authorities that this project will go ahead and the funding is in place. 'Everything they (HSE) have told me has materialised. I"ve been accused by some people of giving false promises but I am now calling on people not to use this issue as a political football. We are talking about people"s health and this facility will mean a major improvement for a lot of people, particularly the elderly.' The project is expected to take 18 months to complete, a fact the Fianna Fail Councillor also believes will create a huge spin-off in the area in terms of construction employment and services. 'The old hospital has served us well but it is now time to move on,' he continued. 'The Resource Centre is also a massive boost as well, and that combined with the MIDOC involvement is going to be key to making it work.' Although he admitted it was a worry that doctors were not involved directly in the centre, he said over the past decade things had moved on with many developing state-of-the-art surgeries close to their patients. He said he would be questioning where the new hospice building fitted into the various plans. Cllr Moran concluded by thanking everyone who lobbied for the centre in particular, local activist Miley O"Neill.