Limerick hospital bosses seek to provide 20 additional beds

MANAGEMENT at Bon Secours Health Systems are set to seek permission to add a 20-bed ward onto their new hospital on the outskirts of Limerick.

Construction of what will be the first newly-built private hospital in the State is well underway at its site in Towlerton near Ballysimon.

Already due to provide 250 spaces and create 150 jobs, now hospital bosses are seeking to introduce more inpatient capacity.

A planning notice published in the Limerick Leader shows the Bon Secours Health System is now proposing to apply to amend the existing planning permission it has in place to build the hospital.

Instead of an administration area on the third floor of the complex, hospital bosses now want to provide an additional inpatient ward with 20 beds.

A spokesperson for the hospitals group said: "As a result of the continued pressures on inpatient hospital beds in the region, together with the forecasted increased demand and particularly for Medical Patients, we have decided to seek planning permission to expand the current 79 inpatient bed offering to 99 inpatient beds."

Having signalled their intention to seek this planning permission, they now have a fortnight to present documents to Limerick City and County Council.

Once these are received, local authority planners will set a date to decide on whether it will allow the change or not.

This new hospital forms the key plank of what is becoming a new community on Limerick’s outskirts.

Adjacent to the hospital site, a health centre is being built, while Limerick Educate Together secondary school opened nearby last September.

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A new Lidl supermarket is set to be built, while a hotel and cafe are also in planning for the €600m-rated scheme.

A masterplan has been developed for the area which contains proposals for up to 300 new apartments in a mix of one, two and three bedroomed.

The project is being delivered by Kirkland Investments, a firm headed by Rudi Butler, the son of prominent city developer Robert.

It acquired the land near where the M7 and the N24 converge.