Minister Harris is fulsome in his praise of new Castlebar Primary Care Centre

HEALTH Minister Simon Harris has officially opened the new multi-million-euro Castlebar Primary Care Centre at Moneenbradagh, Moneen Road, in the town.

The state-of-the-art facility has been developed by Abbey Alainn Limited and the Collins Care Group. Construction took place between February 2015 and August 2016 and the centre opened on September 5, 2016.

The centre accommodates Castlebar Primary Team, serving a population of 26,800. It also accommodates the Primary Care Network services.

The opening hours for the centre are from 8 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Monday to Friday. The centre is accessed out of hours by Westdoc and the Public Health Nursing Service.

The following services are currently based in the centre:

• Public Health Nursing & Continence.

• Paediatric and Adult Physiotherapy.

• Paediatric and Adult Occupational Therapy.

• Speech & Language Therapy.

• CIPC – Counselling in Primary Care.

• Psychology.

• Orthotic Department.

• Gym – there are women’s health clinics and some cardiac rehab and pulmonary rehab services provided by Mayo University Hospital.

• Mental Health Services.

• X-Ray.

• Affidea Group – provide ultrasound services on behalf of the HSE.

• Westdoc.

• Conference Rooms – there are conference rooms of varying capacity available for booking for meetings or training.

• There are two GPs currently co-located in the Centre with space for a third.

• There is also an independent pharmacy operating from this site.

Dental Services have been allocated space in the centre and these services will be transferring to the centre at the end of November 2017.

There are also chronic illness staff based in the centre for respiratory and diabetes, these include clinical nurse specialist posts, a physiotherapist and a dietitian.

The x-ray facilities are run under the governance of the radiology department in Mayo University Hospital. This will provide GPs with direct access to routine x-ray services.

There is an average of 35 x-rays provided per day and there is currently no waiting list in Mayo versus 517 waiting in April 2017.

Westdoc operate from the Primary Care during the following hours: Monday to Friday 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Mayo University Hospital is currently providing some services on site with a plan to move further services in the form of clinics in the coming months.

Minister Harris was fullsome of his praise of the Collins family and their staff for the quality and standard of the award-winning facility.

Tony Canavan, chief operations officer, HSE West, told how the facility has had a major impact in health service provision in the Castlebar and surroduning areas since its opening over a year ago.

Ms. Maureen Collins of Abbey Alainn Limited and the Collins Care Group, said it was wonderful to have so many medical and health care facilities and professionals working in the one building for the benefit of the entire community.

* See our Facebook page for video coverage from the official opening ceremony.