'Significant progress' on new Midlands nursing home to replace 50-year old facility

Roscrea's new 50-bed Dean Maxwell Community Nursing Unit will be built on a greenfield site in the town and the HSE have reported 'significant progress' on the essential facility's creation.

Sandra Broderick, the Regional Executive Officer for the HSE Mid-West, confirmed that work is progressing on identifying a suitable site to accommodate the new state-of-the-art building that will continue the legacy of care built over half a century by the current Dean Maxwell nursing home located adjacent to St. Cronan's Church in Roscrea town centre.

Fears that Roscrea might not receive a new facility and that people from the town requiring public nursing home care would be forced to relocate to Nenagh or Thurles were dispelled last year after years of campaigning by local groups.

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Tipperary Independent TD, Michael Lowry, received confirmation this month from the HSE's Regional Executive Officer that expressions of interest were sought from the open market via the local estates with the aim of identifying suitable lands that can accommodate the development of a modern and purpose-built replacement Community Nursing Unit for the existing service.

In line with current public sector capital investment guidelines, the approval for inclusion as part of the HSE's capital plan will take place pending the identification of a suitable site in Roscrea.

The HSE anticipates that the site will be identified by September of this year and then an application will be submitted for the inclusion of the new Dean Maxwell in the HSE Capital Plan as part of the National Estates process.

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In February the HSE opened an online portal for expressions of interest from interested parties on where the new facility should be built which closed in mid-March.

The HSE said the required site will be between 3.5 and 5 acres, already zoned and suitable for the development of a community nursing unit and be easily accessible to Roscrea town centre and local community facilities.