New hospice building ‘at least five years away’
Galway City Tribune - A new hospice for Galway will not be built within the next five years, according to the West’s most senior health official.
Tony Canavan, the new Chief Executive of Saolta University Health Care Group, which manages Galway’s public hospitals, said he would prioritise the search for a new site – but conceded that realistically it would be 2024 before it was built.
An Bórd Pleanála refused planning permission for a new hospice on the grounds of Merlin Park Hospital.
An oral hearing was held last December, and an inspector recommended that Galway City Council’s decision to grant permission be upheld. But the Board subsequently overturned this, and said the development would be “inappropriate” and contrary to policies to protect natural heritage. Environmentalists successfully argued that the site was of high environmental and amenity value.
Mr Canavan, speaking this week at the HSE West Regional Health Forum meeting, admitted that he was “very disappointed” with the planning refusal for the new hospice.
“Now, on foot of that An Bórd Pleanála decision, we’re probably looking at a five-year timeframe for a new hospice to be built,” he said. This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article, see this week's Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week's paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.