Health Centre application lodged

Interested parties have until November 7 to make submissions to Kildare County Council on a planning application for a Primary Care Health Centre on New Abbey Road, writes Brian Byrne.

The application, which we reported on two weeks ago, has now officially been lodged with the Council in the names of the HSE and Andrew Nolan.

As expected, a Care of the Aged facility will be incorporated within the two-storey Centre.

Subject to requests for FI, the due date for decision now stands as 28 November.

A previous planning application on the site, in 2009, was granted.

Primary Care Centre permission sought

A planning application for a Primary Care Health Centre in Kilcullen is being lodged with Kildare County Council, writes Brian Byrne.

The Centre will be located on the property between the Hideout and the Church Car Park and the application has been lodged by Andrew Nolan in conjunction with the HSE.

The Health Group of Kilcullen 2017 has been working closely with the developer over recent months, and they have succeeded in getting space and specifications suitable for a Day Care Centre included in the plans.

Notice of the application appeared in newspapers yesterday, and the site notices are expected to be in place for early next week, the Diary has learned.

We'll have full details next week. Meantime, here are previous stories on this issue.

Health Centre 'a long way' to activity

The local Primary Care Health Centre project is a ’long way’ from seeing any activity on the site, the recent meeting of Kilcullen 2017 was told.

The meeting heard from the Health Group that discussions on the public-private partnership project are ’still in progress’, and there’s nothing new to report.

The Centre is proposed for a location on the Church Road, behind The Hideout.

Kilcullen 2012 is the group set up to further the Development Plan that came from the Community Survey last autumn, commissioned by Kilcullen Community Action.

Mental health in Primary Care Centre

It’s unlikely that there will be Mental Health day-care services in the planned Primary Care Centre, the inaugural meeting of Kilcullen 2017 was told, writes Brian Byrne.

While the services of child and adolescent psychologists will be available in the Centre on referral, day care facilities will likely be located in Newbridge in one of two larger Primary Care Centres being developed there.

It is envisaged that a room will be available in the Kilcullen Centre for mental health consultations.

The Kilcullen Primary Care Centre is scheduled for opening in the second half of 2013, the meeting heard, ’all going well’.


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Help in home for elderly proposed

The setting up of a voluntary group dedicated to helping elderly and disabled people in their homes was proposed at the recent inaugural meeting of Kilcullen 2017, the implementation group for the recently produced community development plan, writes Brian Byrne.

The suggestion by PJ Fagan was positively received by representatives of the HSE who attended the meeting. They said the organisation could support training for such a project, with trainers available from within the HSE itself.

But Anne Kearney of the HSE noted that the work of such a group would really depend on the actual needs. ”Sometimes what we perceive as needs for a group of people aren’t what are needed at all.” She added that it was very important to find out what are the actual requirements.

Esther Kiely noted that the Public Health Nurse usually knows who needs physical care in a community, but there are many older people who require other services.

Ms Kearney said that bringing up to 50 elder people into a Day Care Centre for two or three days a week was often much more beneficial than providing them with an hour and a half of home help each week. It also offered them a necessary social outlet.

As well as having to prioritise what can be provided, the services also had to be aware of what those they were helping actually wanted. ”We can’t impose on them what we think they need. It is their choice.”

Orla O’Neill commented that it has to be an informed choice.

The meeting also heard that there were 450 people aged 65 and over in the three electoral divisions where the recent Community Survey was centred. And the existing interaction from the long established organisations dealing with Kilcullen senior citizens and people with disabilities was also acknowledged.

The discussion was against the background of a new Primary Care Centre due to be opened in Kilcullen in the second half of 2013, and what facilities might be provided there.




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Primary Care Centre next year

Kilcullen will have a dedicated Health Primary Care Centre up and running in the second half of next year, the first meeting of the 'Kilcullen 2017' development plan implementation group was told last night, writes Brian Byrne.

The Centre will be located on a site between The Hideout and the Parish Church car park, and will bring together a number of services currently located in different parts of the town, including GPs, Public Health Nurse, and Community Physiotherapist. There will also be facilities for Psychological, Social Work and Home Help services.

The facility will be a public/private partnership, and Siobhan Murphy of the HSE told the meeting that the developer has already received the required commitment from local GPs that they will move operations to the Centre.

Ms Murphy said that having a dedicated Primary Care Centre will provide the opportunity to introduce other services, although this will depend on resources. "It's no secret that our services are thin on the ground at the moment," she noted.


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Health Forum to discuss primary care, first responders

A motion asking that the HSE outline its plans for establishing primary care centres in Co Kildare and give a timescale will be debated at next Tuesday's meeting of the Dublin-Mid Leinster Health Forum, writes Brian Byrne.

The motion has been put down by Kilcullen-based Cllr Ivan Keatley. He has also put a question down for discussion asking why has the HSE not engaged with First Responder groups and failed to utilise the service they provide by ensuring the groups  receive calls from the ambulance service.

"Both these items have a direct relevance to Kilcullen and surrounding areas," he told the Diary this morning.

The establishment of a Primary Care Centre in Kilcullen is one of the urgent elements proposed in the town's Development Plan resulting from a survey commissioned some months ago by Kilcullen Community Action.


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