New nursing home to open next year
AN opening date of November 2017 has been given for Castlebridge Manor Private Clinic – a 95 bed nursing home that will provide 130 full-time jobs.
Work on the €10.5 m project, which is based on 20 acres of parkland in Ballyboggan Lower, commenced on September 28 and it is estimated that it will take between 12 and 14 months to build. Recruitment will begin mid 2017.
The Georgian Style Manor has been designed by Craigavon-based architect Paul McCreanor and the main contractor is Laurence Mulholland of Muldar Ltd.
Proprietors John and Martina Hobson applied for planning permission for the project in February of this year and this was granted in March. The permission allows for the construction of an 86-bedroom nursing home catering for 95 people and two gate lodges, along with ancillary services including car parking, landscaping, a new entrance on the local road, connection to existing public services, public footpath and all associated works.
Along with providing services for the elderly, it is also hoped that it will provide facilities for patients with neurological injuries and provide palliative care to patients at end of life.
The proprietors will engage in the services of Mary McCormack and Rena Galvin who operate Tara Winthrop Private Clinic in Swords. Mary McCormack has been involved in the nursing home business for over 30 years when in 1985 she opened a 45 bed facility in Chapelizod, Dublin. In the mid-nineties, mainly in response to an industry shortage, she founded the Federation of Irish Nursing Homes together with a number of other nursing home proprietors. In 2003, in conjunction with Whitehall College of Further Education she authored ‘Care of Older People in Ireland’. Mary has been internationally recognised for her charity work in Kerala, India when in November 2015 she received the Paul Harris International Rotary Award for her humanitarian services to the area.
Mary’s daughter Rena Galvin has over 20 years’ experience in the nursing home business when in 1995 she returned from the United States to go into partnership with her mother. In Tara Winthrop Private Clinic she manages the human resources department with particular responsibility for staff recruitment, training and planning which is particularly vital in the nursing home industry. She also manages the health, safety and risk management in the company and the development of its IT infrastructure.
Pat Whelan, who resides in Castlebridge, is the Finance Director of Castlebridge Manor Private Clinic. He brings with him over two decades of experience in the nursing home industry and has had a long association with the McCormack, Hobson and Galvin families. Commenting on the new project, he said that he is delighted to see it coming to fruition, adding that it will bring a major employment boost to the area and will greatly enhance the economic and social fabric of the local community and its environs.