A primary healthcare centre for Knocknacarra – identified as a priority for the city’s largest suburb as far back as 2008 – is now off the table according to the HSE.
Instead a plan is being mooted to locate the Galway City West Primary Care Centre on the Shantalla Clinic site near University Hospital Galway (UHG).
The chief officer for Galway Mayo Roscommon community services within the Saolta Hospital Group, Tony Canavan, revealed there was no plan at present to develop a centre for Knocknacarra.
“As in City East, a single location is envisaged for City West, however the City West facility is planned to be a large facility to accommodate the identified service needs,” he stated.
He pointed out the HSE had advertised on three occasions for private operators to open up the health care centre, which would work as a one-stop shop accommodating GPs, public health nurse, practice nurse, physiotherapist and diagnostic services.
None of the projects got off the ground, due to the lack of success in attracting a GP to the centre, the downturn in the economy and the difficulty in securing a suitable site, Mr Canavan pointed out.
“A proposal has been developed for a primary care centre on the Shantalla Clinic site. This would be the base for four primary care teams in the west of the city, in conjunction with mental health and hospital outreach services. This would replace the existing premises in Shantalla with a modern integrated facility.”
In answer to questions put by Cllr Catherine Connolly (Ind), Mr Canavan said the clinic was a good location, beside the hospital, of a reasonable size with the capacity to accommodate additional diagnostic services.
“It will service the city and the west,” he added.
Cllr Donal Lyons has been campaigning for many years for the centre to be located in Knocknacarra, which was identified as a priority eight years ago due to its burgeoning population.
He has pointed out the area had a significant elderly population who often had to travel to St Francis’ Home in Newcastle for basic community services. Many younger people had also settled there to raise children. They would continue travelling to the hospital for blood tests, x-rays and other services instead of being able to avail of them nearer home, he said.
“They look across to the eastern side of the city and they see the primary care centre based in the centre of the population,” he said, referring to the centre which opened in Doughiska in 2012.
Plans had been in place to locate one above the recently constructed Aldi supermarket on the Western Distributor Road, but the location did not attract any GPs.
Galway City Councillors vetoed the sale by the local authority of a 2.8 acre site in Shantalla Park in June 2013 to a private medical company to develop the health clinic because it was encroaching on scare green space.
The post Primary healthcare centre set for Shantalla appeared first on Connacht Tribune - Galway City Tribune.