Ashbourne primary care centre to open this summer

The Health Service Executive (HSE) and development company High Street Ashbourne last week revealed plans for a new primary care centre in the town, which will deliver health and social care services to Ashbourne and the surrounding catchment area. The fit-out of the 19,000 square-feet centre is underway at Declan Street and, when completed later this summer, will accommodate a primary care team which will provide a range of health and social care services, including GP, public health nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, psychology, and primary care social work services. A range of outreach consulting services will also be provided from the centre. The community mental health team and day hospital for mental health services, which is currently located in Dunshaughlin Health Care Unit, will transfer to this new facility. Local GPs, Dr Stephen Murphy and Dr Aisling Malone, will be co-located within this building. It is hoped to have all of these services in place and open to the public by autumn of 2012. Ashbourne Primary Care Centre is being developed through the Primary Care Infrastructure Initiative Scheme which is currently being rolled out by the HSE. The HSE sought submissions from individuals and companies who were interested in developing health facilities which would accommodate the delivery of primary health care in conjunction with local GPs. This initiative supports the roll-out of a national programme to develop primary care teams. It is planned that each team will cover a population of approximately 10,000 people. Primary care teams provide an easy access point to local health and personal social care services. Most importantly, these services will be provided in a fully integrated way where all members of the team work in unison to meet the needs of patients. Meanwhile, a further 40 retail jobs have been created in the past few weeks with the arrival of three new retail stores. Iceland Frozen Foods recently opened a 8,000 square feet store, its third store in Ireland. Crazy Prices have opened a 4,000 square feet store and eMobile has opened its 11th retail outlet. High Street Ashbourne had footfall of two million during 2011 and it is envisaged that the combination of the new health care facility and additional retail will add a further 10 per cent to the commercial activity of the town. Ronan Mellett, director of the High Street Ashbourne, development said: "We are delighted that, after many months of negotiations with the HSE, that they have selected High Street Ashbourne as the location for their new facility. "This represents a huge endorsement of Ashbourne and a boost to the local economy. We were keen to meet the needs of the HSE and were able to offer a modern, state-of-the-art facility with excellent access, parking and amenities. Thirty people will be employed during the fit-out of the building and we are aiming to have the facility completed this summer," he said.