PLANNING permission has been granted to develop a Primary Care Centre (PCC) in Limerick city, which will provide a suite of healthcare services.
The four-storey centre at St Joseph’s Hospital Campus on Mulgrave Street, adjacent to the proposed Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), will include an entrance foyer, waiting areas, a GP service, BreastCheck clinic, dental and orthodontic procedures, community care services, clinical diagnostics, chronic disease management, consulting rooms and a retail café.
Planning was submitted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to Limerick City and County Council on the greenfield site which will provide up to 110 parking spaces, seven accessible parking bays and 110 bicycle parking spaces.
The plans for the 7,370 m² building also include the widening of the existing vehicular and pedestrian entrance along Mulgrave Street and localised widening of the existing campus road.
According to a report compiled by Coady Architects on behalf of the HSE, it is said that the primary care centre has been identified as a critical infrastructure project by the HSE and part of the implementation of the Sláintecare strategy for improving Ireland’s healthcare system.
It’s hoped the centre will provide accommodation for two primary care teams currently based within Limerick, who are in accommodation that falls short of what is required by current best practice healthcare design.
As part of the planned redevelopment of the St. Joseph’s Hospital building, the HSE plan to refurbish what is known as the Hammerhead Block on the eastern side of the building, which is the most significant vacant area within the St. Joseph’s, to form the new St. Anne’s Day Hospital and Mental Health Rehab.
These works are intended to be carried out in a similar manner to the work undertaken to the Female Medical Ward on the western side of the existing St. Joseph’s building, to establish the new TUSLA Headquarters.
The St. Joseph’s site has also been identified by the Land Development Agency (LDA) as part of the revitalisation and regeneration of Limerick City through the Colbert Quarter Spatial Framework.
This masterplan has considered the extent of lands which will be transferred to the LDA as part of the ‘Colbert Quarter’ development, which will see residential development to the western side of the campus.
The new PCC building will follow the new CAMHS development as part of a series of priority projects by the HSE to create a new ‘Health Campus’ on this area of the St. Josephs’s site.
It is envisaged that a future new campus entrance will ultimately be constructed to facilitate more direct connectivity from Mulgrave Street onto the Ballysimon Road.
The redevelopment of the now vacant “Hammerhead” wing of the existing St. Joseph’s Hospital is the intended next phase, which will see the relocation of Mental Health and Administrative services into the last unused part of the existing building.