Ballyhaunis Primary Care Centre ‘will open in 2025’

It has been confirmed that the long-awaited primary healthcare centre in Ballyhaunis will be open before the end of this year.

Local Fine Gael councillor Alma Gallagher had tabled a query on the matter at last week's meeting of Health Forum West in Merlin Park Hospital in Galway.

Cllr Gallagher was told that the centre will open from year-end and will include services such as dental care and speech and language therapy.

A written reply from Niall Colleary, HSE Assistant National Director, Capital and Estate, stated: “All main structural works and underground civil works from the building have been completed. Mechanical and electrical works are sufficiently advanced to allow ceilings to be installed with finishes to follow. External works will be completed, following the exit of heavy machinery and external painting will follow.

“It is anticipated that practical completion will be achieved [in] mid to late Q3 2025 with handover to the HSE following agreement/snagging. HSE occupancy is expected in mid-Q4 2025 following [the] installation of equipment.” 

Cllr Gallagher told the forum she was delighted with the news and also was pleased to learn that the centre will house speech and language therapy.

"Currently, they are renting a room from the local Family Resource Centre for this service which is just not viable.

“At the moment we have two designated speech and language classes available in Castlebar and Ballina and these only address the needs of seven children in each unit, even though they are catering to three classes including junior, senior and first class. Recently, this offering was reduced from three to two days, so those children that did not succeed in getting a place at all, what happens for them? The numbers show there are actually 27 children who applied for these services but, unfortunately, there was not enough space for them and this demand shows there is an additional need for services for children. As the third largest county, I would very much advocate for those to be provided in Mayo and more pertinently in East Mayo, where the need is great.” 

Cllr Gallagher had also questioned the delivery of HSE dental services to medical card patients in Ballyhaunis, noting that there is a shortage of dentists serving the needs of medical cardholders in East Mayo.

Mayo Integrated Health Manager Mary Warde replied: “The dental service to the school-going population of eligible children in Ballyhaunis will recommence when the new primary care centre is open. With regard to medical cardholders in the region, joining the scheme is optional, however the online approval system shows that contractors in Mayo are seeing medical card patients for treatment. Some medical cardholders have opted to travel outside of the county to access dental services where there are more contractors available." 

Cllr Gallagher said that people were not “opting” to travel to other counties for treatment but were being “forced to do so”. 

“I do welcome the fact that the service to the school-going population will recommence when the primary care centre opens but the data shows there is a huge backlog of children not getting and waiting for those services. I did a search online myself of dentists in the county and discovered just 34 are registered for the population of 137,000 in Mayo, that’s one for every 4,057 people, which is just not good enough and from what I am hearing from constituents, there are just none in the county, particularly for new patients.” 

Ms Warde replied that there is a dental service available to people from Ballyhaunis in both Castlerea and Claremorris at the moment but it will move back out to the town once the new centre opens.

A dogged Cllr Gallagher asked Ms Warde if she could advise her after the meeting “who are the dentists providing the services” so that she could let constituents know.

The Fine Gael councillor also told the forum there was extreme disappointment for parents in the local area when it was discovered the long-promised Autism Unit for the town was no longer going ahead. The health manager said she would follow up on the points raised by Cllr Gallagher.