A swarm of ministers and politicians descended on Churchtown on Dublin’s southside on Thursday for the reopening of the Mount Carmel hospital.
The former private hospital, now called Mount Carmel Community Hospital, was officially opened by Minister of State for Health Kathleen Lynch.
Ms Lynch said the short-stay and transitional care hospital, which has 65 beds, could provide non-acute services in a calmer, more holistic way.
“We have extension plans in place in relation to how we deal with a demographic situations as we age, which is a good thing that our population is staying healthier and living longer.”
The redeveloped building, which was bought by the HSE for €11 million last August, was freshly painted and had a relaxed atmosphere.
Many of the patients, who were playing board games and watching TV, turned to chat to the Minister as she made her way through the hospital with the media.
Access
HSE head of operations
Michael Fitzgerald
said the hospital had opened in April with about 20 beds. Since June, the facility has had 65 convalescent beds available and about 60 staff.
He said the facility had initially concentrated on helping the three northside acute hospitals in Dublin. These had the largest problems with delayed patient discharges.
Mr Fitzgerald said the hospital had recently broadened its services to include south Dublin’s acute hospitals. He said there were 35 beds being used on Thursday and the number would rise to close to 50 next week.
“That’s why we haven’t a full house today because we’re going through admissions at moment,” he said.
“It varies up and down from week to week.”
Mr Fitzgerald said there was a case manager attached to the hospital who assessed people for admission.
“There isn’t any hard and fast rules. We’re trying to keep the access going as much as possible,” he said.
Waiting lists
Mr Fitzgerald said the average length of stay for patients was 24 days.
“We’ve no doubt we will have waiting lists at some stage,” he said.
“As it moves on we may have to say it’s x amount of beds per hospital.”
Mr Fitzgerald said he hoped in the future there would be funding to open a similar facility on the north-side of the city.
Mr Fitzgerald said in addition to assessment, transitional care and rehabilitation beds, patients could also access health and social professional services. These include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and dietetics.
He said costs had reached €5 million for the year and would probably go over that amount next year.
Two public community nursing units will be temporarily transferred to the hospital while their own buildings are renovated.
Belvilla Community Unit is due to transfer next week for about nine months and then Meath Community Nursing Unit will transfer for up to another nine months.
The long-term development of the Mount Carmel Community Hospital is expected to take about three years and have a capacity for 110 beds when finished.
HSE director general Tony O’Brien said the new development was part of an overall strategy to reduce delayed discharges and emergency department waiting times.
