Primary care centre due to open its doors in early 2020
THE new primary care centre was the subject of a presentation by the HSE to members of Bray Municipal District last Tuesday evening.
Loraine Kennedy, head of primary care and James Glover, general manager of primary care, said that the centre, under construction, is expected to open in the first quarter of 2020.
The centre will include GP services, public health nursing, dental, dietetics, psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech & language therapy all on the same site
Mental health, older person’s and addiction services will also be co-located, as well as local community organisations such as Bray Old Folks Association (providing meals on wheels and social activities).
The civic centre will be retained as HSE headquarters and administrative centre, likely to include a revamped area for registration of births, deaths and marriages
Cllr Joe Behan welcomed them both. He asked if the building is owned by a private business and is the HSE renting? He asked about security of tenure. He also asked if there will be a pharmacy.
He raised concerns about the current Lincara centre which caters for mental health needs. He said that some users are distressed at the prospect of a move to the Killarney Road building and asked about plans to deal with the transition.
Cllr Oliver O’Brien commented that there should be a link with sporting bodies to help with the idea of preventing as well as curing illnesses.
Cllr John Ryan wondered if the new centre will provide an alternative to hospital in some cases, and thereby ease any stress on the A&E departments.
Cllr Steven Matthews welcomed the GP out of hours service in particular.
He asked about the parking allocation and whether that would be divided between staff and clients/the public.
Cllr Christopher Fox asked if the out-of-ours service would extend to the whole district and thanked them for the presentation.
Cllr Dermot O’Brien said that it is great to know when the out of hours service will launch.
Cllr Pat Vance asked if the centre will include x-ray and scanning facilities.
Mr Glover said that the building is being leased on a very long term basis. He said that it would not have been feasible for the HSE to fund the project. He said that they plan to be there ‘essentially forever;.
He said that his colleagues in mental health would manage the transition from Lincara.He said that the plans are very much to provide additional services, rather than applying a ‘scorched earth’ policy. Members also heard that the mental health service has a large footprint on the site.
The pharmacy will be privately operated, and that is a matter for the developer.
There will be significant parking for the public/users of the service and the GP moving in to the centre will be Carlton Clinic.