Two new healthcare facilities, one private and one public, took steps forward in recent weeks.
A VHI 360 Healthcare Centre, which is planned for the Holywell distributor road, recently got an extension of three months to complete its planning permission.
When complete the new healthcare centre will provide an urgent care, outpatient services, health assessment and intervention and diagnostic services.
The facility, which will be just past Tesco on the road around Holywell, has to provide Fingal County Council with some further environmental and transport information on the facility before they break ground. They now have until mid-July to finish the application.
On the other side of Swords, the HSE have rented additional space for the development of a Community Healthcare Network (CHN).
The new healthcare facility is one of 96 CHNs being rolled out across the country with the aim to better deal with chronic health conditions that will be more prevalent in an aging population.
The new hub will be located in the Swords Business Campus on the Balheary Rd where some 3,600sq ft of additional space has been rented in recent weeks by the HSE.
According to the HSE website:
Each CHN will deliver primary healthcare services across a population of 50,000. It will consist of between 4-6 primary care teams, with GPs involved in delivering services. Working together in multi-disciplinary teams will deliver the Sláintecare vision to provide the right care, in the right place at the right time.
The CHNs are further supported with Community Specialist Teams for Older Persons and Chronic Disease. These aim to improve the lives of older persons and the standard of care for four major chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.
CHNs will enable decisions to be made closer to the point of care, and specific to population needs.
Cllr Ian Carey said:
“It’s good to see these two projects move forward. I’m particularly glad to see the HSE moving forward with the development of the Community Healthcare Network. It’s not clear yet what the timeline is for when the new hub will be up and running but I’m glad they have started the process rather than waiting for the delivery of the primary care centre in Swords which may be a number of years away.
“Equally the VHI 360 Health Centre will be a welcome addition to the town. So often for urgent care people from Swords are travelling long distances this will give some another option and take the pressure of the entire system.”
