A millionaire philanthropist has offered to provide a whopping €7 million for the development of a 50 bed residential care unit in Tuam, to be constructed on the site of the town’s old Grove Hospital.
For the time being, the businessman does not want to be named – but he is well-known in local business circles. And his only proviso with the funding is that the HSE West comes up with the remaining €5 million required to complete the project.
The businessman will provide the cash once the HSE has a commitment that the additional monies will be forthcoming from the Department of Health; it is understood that the matter is to be raised in the Dail this week.
If everything falls into place, it could result in more than 300 people being employed in the Tuam Health Campus – at the moment construction work is taking place on the new primary care centre while planning has been secured to renovate the old Grove Hospital for mental health facilities.
Cllr Donagh Killilea, a member of the Health Service Executive forum, said that this was a huge boost to the town and something that should be appreciated and utilised to good effect. He has expressed the hope that the HSE will secure the additional funding necessary for the nursing home.
The residential care unit, which will mainly accommodate the elderly, will be built on a greenfield site on the nine acre Grove Hospital property – between the ambulance station and the new primary care centre which is currently under construction.
He said that, all going well, it could be provided within a two or three year time frame. “It is a major investment in our town and now the responsibility rests on the Department of Health to come up with the additional funding to see it through”, Cllr Killilea said.
Earlier this year planning permission was granted by Galway County Council to the Health Service Executive for the part demolition, refurbishment and remodelling of the old Grove Hospital which closed more than 25 years ago.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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