Progress on primary care centre for Cork suburb

Progress has been made on a long-awaited primary care centre for Mayfield and Ballyvolane, with Cork City Council granting planning permission to the HSE for the facility.

The HSE have said the Mayfield and Glanmire Primary Care Centres (PCCs) are being delivered via the operational lease model.

“The current status of the Glanmire PCC facility is that construction works have started on site,” the HSE said in a statement.

Work started in October of this year, and is expected to take two years to complete.

In the case of the Mayfield/Ballyvolane PCC, the HSE said the the developer had notified the HSE that Cork City Council has issued a decision to grant planning permission for the facility.

“The project will now advance through the final statutory phases, including the formal grant of permission, detailed design finalisation, and legal documentation.”

Planning documents say that permission has been granted for a the construction of a four-storey primary care centre on Ballyhooly Road.

The development will be accessed via a new vehicular/pedestrian access off Ballyhooly Road and provides for internal roads and footpaths and future pedestrian connection to the north. The proposed development also includes the provision of one retail unit and two GP Practices at ground floor level, as well as solar panels, bike and car parking.

“I am glad that the Primary Care Centre for Mayfield is finally going to construction,” Cork North Central TD Thomas Gould, who was given the information, said.

“This has dragged on for far too long — it was talked about when I was first elected in 2020. I truly believe that if it wasn’t for pressure from elected representatives and the public, these primary care centres would drop off the agenda altogether.

“I hope that construction happens quickly and we see care in the heart of Mayfield sooner rather than later.”

The Sinn Féin TD added: “I am calling for a full review of these projects. The government claim that privately leasing these centres speeds up delivery — it is clear from Mayfield’s case that this didn’t happen.”

The Echo previously revealed that the HSE is paying more than €3m a year to private companies for eight existing primary care centre buildings in Cork, which they have a 25-year lease on under the same model being used to develop to Mayfield/Ballyvolane centre.