Decision due on Midlands Hospice planning bid by the end of May

Offaly County Council is due to make a decision by the end of May on a planning application for a new Midlands Hospice in Tullamore, which will serve the counties of Offaly, Laois, Westmeath and Longford.

A planning application for the long-awaited facility has been lodged with the Offaly local authority. The proposed development consists of a new hospice catering for 20 inpatient beds on a site at Arden Lane, Tullamore, complete with ancillary services, and a separate daycare and therapy wing to the south, 80 car parking spaces including seven accessibility bays, and 15 bicycle Sheffield stands.

A set-down area for drop offs and pickups and one mini-bus parking bay form part of the plans, and the planning documents also state that road improvement works are to be carried out on Arden Lane.

These will include footpath and pedestrian crossings, and redirected access onto R421 Arden Road roundabout via a new connection to the access road. This new connection is to be provided by the Riverpoint Construction Limited development.

Planning documents incidate tht the development would be assessed via a new priority-controlled T-junction on Arden Lane.

While 20 beds are to be provided as part of the initial phase of development, the planning documents state there is “capacity for future expansion”. The site is bordered to the east by the Tullamore Pitch and Putt Club.

The planning documents on file include a traffic and transport assessment which the HSE commissioned from contractors Roughan & O’Donovan.

Its analysis of the predicted traffic impacts found the proposed development would only increase traffic flows at the Arden Road Eiscir Meadows Roundabout “by 3% in the AM and PM peak hours,” acording to the report, which they state will have an “imperceptible, negative, permanent effect on current traffic flows.”

The report added that the “cumulative operational phases impacts of both developments” will increase the traffic throughput at the Arden Road Eiscir Meadows Roundabout by 7% and 8% in the AM and PM peak hours. Again, it concluded that these impacts of this magnitude are anticipated to have a “not significant, negative, permanent effect on current traffic flows.”

With regard to the construction phase impacts of the development on traffic flow, the report concluded that there would be “a significant, temporary negative effect on existing road users” on both Arden Lane and Arden Road traffic throughout this period.

In a statement issued to local media outlets earlier this week, the HSE said the main features of the proposed Midlands Hospice would be "a much-needed 20 bed specialist palliative care inpatient unit, a Day Therapy Unit and an education centre.

"Because of its location and the size of the site, there will be extensive landscaping of the grounds, and each inpatient bedroom will be on the ground floor with direct access to an individual outdoor area," the HSE added.

Dr Pauline Kane, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, said: "Having a specialist palliative care inpatient unit in the Midlands will mean that our local specialist palliative care teams will have the full range of services available to patients.

"The Midlands Hospice will give the specialist palliative care service the ability to provide intensive symptom support and multi-disciplinary input to patients with challenging symptoms in a more appropriate environment than an acute hospital.

"This is a hugely important development for our patients and their families to have this facility and we are looking forward to it becoming a reality very soon."

The HSE added that the Midlands Hospice would "provide our local specialist palliative care teams with a full range of inpatient and day services locally.

"This will enable the specialist management of patients with difficult symptoms in a more appropriate environment for terminally ill patients rather than an acute hospital, without the need to attend the Emergency Department."

In addition, the HSE expressed its gratitude to the following groups (in alphabetical order): Hooves for Hospice, Irish Hospice Foundation, Laois Hospice, Longford Hospice, North Westmeath Hospice, Offaly Hospice and South Westmeath Hospice.

It also thanked local public representatives who have supported the project from across the Midlands and the Department of Health.