Trim retirement village to be 'flagship" location in Ireland

DENIS Brosnan, the chairman of Barchester Ireland, the developers of the new Knightsbridge Nursing Home and Retirement Village in Trim, anticipates that the project will be their 'flagship" in Ireland. He was speaking at the official opening of the 'Ireland"s first premium active lifestyle village" by the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, on Friday last. The facility was constructed on former parish-owned land on the Longwood Road, which parish priest Fr Andy Farrell wanted to see developed for the good of the community. Knightsbridge Nursing Home contains 87 private bedrooms, 13 private suites with private guest bedrooms, an oratory, visitors lounge, reading rooms, private dining rooms and lounges, with person-centred care for the frail elderly, dementia sufferers, young disables, convalescent/post-operative and respite nursing and step down services. Knightsbridge also contains a cafe, medical centre and pharmacy, a wellness suite and gym, a shop, hair salon, library and IT room, a community hall and designed gardens, as well as a bowling green which featured a local team against a Westmanstown side on Friday. For those who want to retain an element of independent living, there is a wide range of homes and apartments with access to the full facilities of the village. And the community looks set to have a comprehensive primary care health centre with services such as doctor, dentist, physiotherapy and chiropodist, according to Minister Harney. She announced that Barchester Healthcare and the Health Service Executive are close to finalising discussions with regard to establishing a primary care centre on site. 'This would provide comprehensive primary health care services to Trim and the wider community according to the new model being pioneered by the HSE,' she said. 'Such a move would clearly benefit the residents and the surrounding community. I welcome the progress that has been made to date in these talks. I understand a final decision will be made by the Board of the HSE next week.' Barchester Ireland is a sister company of Barchester Healthcare in the UK which delivers premium care services to 11,000 daily. Backers include well-known Irish businessmen JP McManus, John Magnier and Dermot Desmond, as well as Denis Brosnan. Mr Brosnan said that Ms Harney had been encouraging them to come to Ireland for many years, but a suitable site could not be found. Sites around Dublin were too dear. 'We could afford to pay €30,000 per bed per site value,' he explained. 'It was costing €100,0000 per bed at every site we looked at around Dublin.' Some €45 million was invested in the Trim development, which Mr Brosnan hopes will become part of the community. 'We need to look after our elderly, and those stepping down from hospital,' he said. 'People who retire still have their dignity as part of a community, and there is a village hall and restaurants and other facilities, and we hope that the community embraces the retirement centre, and that everybody who comes to Knightsbridge becomes part of that community too.' He said that the vibes he was receiving so far indicated that this would happen and that it would be a flagship project. Ms Harney described the facilities as spectacular, and said that while lots of people like to be able to live independently and have their own front doors, they may also need the services available at Knightsbridge. 'And it"s not just a about being a care facility, there"s a holistic atmosphere to the place with gym, hairdressers, nail bar, bowling and gardening,' she said, paying tribute to Barchester for the investment in Trim. Referring to the impending HSE decision on the primary care centre, she said that the State doesn"t have to own the buildings to supply the services, and good modern facilities can be provided by the private sector. Local minister Noel Dempsey welcomed Barchester to Trim, saying that the project had a number of various guises over the years, and paid tribute to Fr Farrell and Dr Larry McEntee for their foresight in promoting the development, and its arrival at this stage. Mr Dempsey said it had always been a tradition in Trim to look after the elderly, with St Joseph"s Hospital in the town. Speaking at the event, Barchester"s chief executive Gary Watson said that Barchester was bringing a new standard of care for older people to Ireland. 'I know the minister will shortly publish legislation to give effect to her Fair Deal proposals. I expect that once that legislation is enacted, increasing numbers of older people will decide for themselves where they will live. We will offer them new choices. 'The Barchester philosophy is simple and that is 'to exceed all required standards and in so doing establish its own quality benchmark". Specifically, our staff/resident ratios, room floor space and other facilities will exceed the forthcoming HIQA standards and, we believe, do exceed anything currently available in Ireland,' he said. Further similar facilities are planned for Dublin, Cork and Galway, amongst other major urban centres.