Minister of State, Mary Butler has officially opened the HSE Ballyshannon Community Hospital, in Co. Donegal, which she said, would serve the area for generations to come.”
Located at the site of the old Sheil Hospital, the €36.7 million facility provides 52 long-stay beds and 20 short-stay beds. It allows for a range of services including convalescence, rehabilitation, respite and palliative care. The hospital also features dementia-specific assessment beds and a day hospital service.
The facility allows for care to be given in the most appropriate modern health care environment which benefits each resident and patient while also promoting a high quality of life.
The hospital will provide in-house occupational and physiotherapy services to patients and residents. Additional supporting professional services include dietetics, speech and language therapy, podiatry, tissue viability nurse specialist, dentistry, audiology, clinical nurse specialist dementia, psychiatry of old age and social worker, along with advocacy and spiritual services.
The second phase will see the opening of the 20-bed short-term unit. This unit will facilitate discharges from both Sligo University Hospital and Letterkenny University Hospital for those patients who require further inpatient care in a step-down facility. During this phase, a further long-term care ward will also open, depending on the level of recruitment completed. It is expected that phase two will be completed in July 2024.
The final third phase will involve the opening of the remaining long-term ward (13 beds) and the Dementia Unit. It is anticipated that all units will be operational by December 2024.
All required staff for the hospital have been officially sanctioned, with recruitment ongoing in relation to staff of all required grades. The staffing complement attached to the hospital is significant and will contribute to the wider social and economic development of the community in the South Donegal, North Leitrim and North Sligo areas. Approximately 147 staff will be employed at the new hospital.
