Laois support Offaly resistance over Ministerially selected Midlands Hospice site

There is support in Laois for the chosen site for the first Midlands palliative care in a purpose-built hospice unit but the Tullamore location picked by the Minister for Health has met with resistance in Offaly.

Laois Hospice Chairperson Mary Delaney welcomed the choice of Arden Lane in Tullamore following consultation with the hospice groups in the midlands and other stakeholders.

The location of a hospice in Tullamore met with opposition in Laois when it was first put on the table by the HSE and doctors. However, this stance subsequently changed.

“Laois Hospice is delighted that Minister Stephen Donnelly has made a decision on the site for the Midlands inpatient hospice unit. We hope that the project will now proceed as quickly as possible to plan and get the project commenced. We look forward to this,” she told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

An original site beside the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore was deemed unsuitable after the former Taoiseach Micheál Martin announced €20 million in public funds for a region which is the last in Ireland not to have a hospice unit.

This led to a consultation process that concluded in February 2024 and led to Minister Donnelly announcing that Arden Lane was the best location in Tullamore. His approval carried a condition that the project must be ready to go within 12 months. Otherwise, Mr Donnelly said the alternative site at Wellwood on the Tullamore bypass would be pursued. 

The HSE is tasked with advancing the project. It gave an outline of where the work is at.

“The design team has been appointed with Coady Architects as the lead and are currently progressing through the design process.

“The HSE is committed to advancing this critical hospice development for the people of the Midlands with voluntary hospice groups and with our Palliative Care Teams across the region.

“The HSE will quickly advance next steps with all relevant parties as we progress to the planning application,” HSE informed the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

However, there is resistance in Offaly to the choice of Arden Lane. Most high profile is the Fianna Fáil MEP and former Laois Offaly TD Barry Cowen. He warned that developing the site at Arden Lane could be more expensive than Wellwood owned by Offaly builders John Flanagan Developments. It is the location for yet to be developed private hospital that was planned during the Celtic Tiger.

“The people of Midlands region have waited two years for the delivery of a new hospice after funding having already committed. I have fought for this project and secured €20 million funding. While today it is welcome to see progress being made, I am concerned following today’s confirmation the hospice will be housed at out of town site in Arden, Tullamore.

“I personally favoured the Wellwood site, a fully serviced and appropriately zoned location as per County Offaly Development Plan. It’s also located adjacent to and accessible to Midlands Regional Hospital with extensive area capable of meeting accommodation needs of this overdue facility/service. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

“As a public representative I’ve a duty to express my views and concerns when seeking to ensure public finances are spent wisely and fairly. The costs associated with servicing Arden with relevant roads and services would be at least in excess of a further €2 million not to mention the uncertainty in obtaining permission at all. That would cause further delay and disappointment not to mention further costs for the taxpayer to carry.

“Therefore I merely urge caution. I as much as anyone having used my political will and credit to win such substantial funding want to see this region with a hospice. But I have to call out my fears and concerns while hoping they somehow can be resolved,” he said.

There is also opposition from Offaly Hospice which issued a statement to the Tullamore Tribune.

''We have reviewed the suitability award matrix and feel strongly that the Arden Lane site is the incorrect decision and that there were very significant flaws through the adjudication and scoring process.

''The inclusion of non-hospice stakeholders was envisaged, we are surprised that the Dublin and Midland Hospital Group management was not included as a stakeholder, given their future requirement to deliver co-located services to the facility,'' said the Hospice.

While many hospice units in Ireland are not co-located with acute hospitals, the Offaly Hospice group believe that it should be located beside Tullamore hospital.

''Can you imagine a palliative care patient, who urgently needs specialist intervention and instead of a 400m on-campus four-minute walk, a specialist needs to drive 2km through two sets of traffic lights, a pedestrian crossing and roundabout on a busy road with multiple exit and entrance lanes. They could potentially have to deal with breakdowns,traffic light malfunctions, Garda checkpoints, accidents and one would be hoping that if such a need were to arise, that it would not coincide with match traffic in O’Connor Park.

''We are concerned that insufficient descriptions were given to evaluators to describe the meaning of particular scores from a graduated relativity perspective. Certainly such detail was not made available to Offaly Hospice Foundation.

"We also believe that relevant incremental costs in terms of facilitating works and services, for which we have professional estimates of an additional €2m for the Arden Lane site, is not adequately considered in the scoring matrix. This is an unnecessary spend of public money, which could be more appropriately spent on patients in palliative care. Relevant costs should be clearly included in site selection as referenced in section 4.1 of the “Design guidelines for specialist palliative care settings.

"Finally, we are surprised that a process that evaluated three sites and theoretically yielded a 3.2% differential between the leading two sites did not eliminate the lowest bid and proceed to a further round of detailed comparative scoring, with further detail provided to evaluators to ensure all were evaluating on the same basis with a view to achieving the optimum process outcome," he said.

They concluded that this project involves a commitment of significant public funding and therefore it is essential that the principles enshrined in EU law and founding EU treaties are meticulously applied.

John Flanagan Developments applied to Offaly County Council in late 2023 to alter plans for a 99-bed hospital which was granted planning permission earlier last year.

The application sought to alter the floor space of the hospital, reducing the in-patient bed space to 56 while increasing the capacity for outpatient day spaces and elective procedures.