HSE publishes plans for old hospital building

HSE mental health services and administrative offices are to be relocated to the old Tullamore hospital building as part of a major refurbishment, it's proposed. The HSE this week published plans to revamp the Scott Building to provide a mental health facility, a centre for education, library, on-call accommodation and administrative offices. The Scott Building which is the old hospital building at the Midland Regional Hospital, Tullamore, is a four story building located to the right hand side of the new Hospital campus. The building was designed by Michael Scott in 1938 and is a listed building. This building has been vacant since 2009 when the final transfer of services to the new Hospital Building was completed. The Scott Building will be refurbished to provide accommodation for a range of services, which are currently occupying leased premises in the Tullamore area and for staff occupying old pre-fabricated buildings on the existing Hospital campus. The HSE said its objective is to utilise HSE-owned property in order to minimise rental payments on properties elsewhere An accommodation review was carried out by the HSE in Tullamore late last year which identified the number of leased properties occupied by HSE services which included mental health services and administration departments. The provision of an Education and Training Centre in one location will adequately address all of the educational and research needs of the healthcare practitioners and students on clinical placement within health services in the Offaly area, the HSE said. The relocation will result in a substantial monetary saving, the HSE said. Planning permission is now being sought for the changes.