“This new Community Hospital represents a major enhancement in patient care in our region and will ensure that older people in our communities receive specialist, person-centred care closer to their home,” according to John Fitzmaurice, HSE IHA Manager for Sligo Leitrim, speaking as the first brick of the new 90-bedded Community Hospital in Carrick on Shannon, Co Leitrim was recently laid by Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.

Representing a major investment in health and social care for older people across County Leitrim, the construction of the new hospital at Ballynamony Road, Carrick on Shannon is expected to be completed early in 2027.

With a contract construction value in excess of €38m, the new unit will contain 90 beds, facilitating long stay, short stay, and dementia wards. It will also accommodate a designated rehabilitation facility.

The design of the hospital aims to create a person-centred approach which supports older people continuing to direct their own lives in accordance with their cognitive and physical abilities, while in an environment which reflects the comforts of home. This will be done by the creation of households within the overall centre. Each long-stay household will have 23 en-suite single bedrooms and one en-suite twin bedroom, with a total of 25 residents. The short-stay household will accommodate 20 residents in 20 en-suite single bedrooms.

Each household will have their own dayroom, dining room and kitchen area at the centre. In each of the 25-bed households, there will be one dayroom or sun room and one shared dining room that can be compartmentalised, and which can open out to the gardens. There will also be a quiet room for reading, reflection or meeting with visitors which can also open out to the outdoor space.

There will be 20 dementia-specific assessment beds to be accommodated on the ground floor in two 10-bedded households. The design of each household will support the continued engagement of residents living with dementia in meaningful person centred activities. Residents will also be afforded access to a secure, therapeutic, landscaped courtyard.

Addressing the gathering, Minister Carroll MacNeill noted how the project “reflects our commitment to enhancing the delivery of healthcare across all life stages and enabling the provision of care closer to home. Our population is living longer than ever before, so it’s vital that we continue to invest in health infrastructure that enables older people to live well, with dignity in a peaceful and nurturing environment.”

Frank Morrison, HSE Head of Service Older Persons, Community Services, added that they were “pleased to see the progression of this project. This purpose-built facility will provide the most modern care and comforts for the older population of Leitrim.”