Works needed before 19-bed dementia unit on Cork's northside can open

Works are now needed before a long-awaited 19-bed dementia unit in a Gurranabraher nursing home can be opened, the HSE has said.

The HSE had told The Echo in August last year that the beds in Heather House were expected to come onstream before the end of 2025. In November, it said that work had been “substantially completed” with final equipping in progress.

Now it has said that “minor works” are needed before Hiqa will allow the centre to amend its registration to include the dementia beds.

An application to vary registration for Heather House CNU was submitted to Hiqa on December 12, 2025, and an inspection by Hiqa took place on February 17.

The HSE told Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould on March 9 that it was finalising its response to the findings of the inspection.

“It is not possible to predict a date for regulatory approval, but once engagement with the regulator has concluded and appropriate staffing levels are in place, the new dementia-specific unit can open for admissions,” it said at the time.

In a new update this month, provided to Mr Gould after a follow-up query, a HSE spokesperson said that following engagement with Hiqa, “minor works are required to be completed to finalise the registration process”.

“Residents, their families, staff, and the wider community will be kept updated in this regard,” the spokesperson added.

Mr Gould told The Echo: “The 19-bed unit for Heather House was first announced in 2022. Four years later, we are still being given excuses for why it’s not open.

“I am supporting a lady whose mother is in a nursing home in Cork county.

“Her entire family live on the northside. She has dementia and on the days her family visit her, she does better. If she was in Heather House, she’d have daily visits.”