Centre is testimony to the ability of the private sector to build care facilities quickly. Dr Muiris Houston visits a trendsetting nursing home in Co Dublin
There are not many nursing homes that can boast of having full X-ray facilities and an MRI scanner in their basements. Nor would most have the services of an inhouse consultant in geriatric medicine.
Yet this is precisely what is on offer in a new state-of-the-art care centre in Santry.
The TLC centre is the brainchild of Dr Liam Lacey, a Clonsilla general practitioner, and Michael Fetherston, a hotelier and entrepreneur.
The new development is located beside the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry Demesne, in north Dublin. A 74-room facility, it expects to take in its first residents before Christmas.
The top floor of the care centre - Dr Lacey prefers the term to nursing home - has nine one-bed apartments and two two-bed apartments designed for independent living.
The ground, first and second floors have 74 rooms, 30 of which can offer double occupancy for couples or friends.
As well as a wheelchair accessible toilet and shower, each room has an individual TV, internet and a call bell. Bathrooms on each floor are equipped with special Parker and Malibu type baths as well as a Rhapsody hydrotherapy suite to help with the active rehabilitation of clients.
Each floor has a day room where residents and relatives can make tea and coffee.
There is a day centre on the ground floor where up to 30 non-residents can be accommodated between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.. Both the day care and residential clients will have access to physiotherapy, occupational therapy and chiropody services. Full medical assessments will also be available.
A hair salon, equipped to hotel standards, is also located on the ground floor. Other facilities at this level include a multi-denominational oratory and a dining room.
Built at a cost of more than €14 million, the building contractors entered a greenfield site in January of this year. Now complete, the development is a testimony to the ability of the private sector to bring care facilities on stream quickly and efficiently and to the tax incentive scheme which encourages such initiatives.
For Lacey, the motivation to get behind the project was a mixture of personal and professional experiences.
"I have been in and out of nursing homes since 1981 when I was a GP trainee in Clane, Co Kildare. In Clonsilla, there are three nursing homes in our area of practice. Then in the last three years my mother developed multi-infarct dementia and required long-term care," he says.
Putting all of that experience together, he felt he was in a position to "provide a centre of excellence for the care of older people".
Compared to 'standard' nursing homes, what does he feel TLC will do differently?
"We will place a big emphasis on rehabilitation. Unless we pursue a policy of activity and rehabilitation, the chances of maintaining an older person's dignity for a longer period of time is reduced," he says.
Dr Lacey would like TLC to promote a two-way flow of clients with people staying for long as well as short periods. He would like to link with the local area health board to develop community based geriatric services.
He has been in discussions with the Northern Area Health Board with a view to them moving patients currently occupying acute hospital beds to TLC.
"The services here are available to both public and private patients. On that basis, we are currently speaking to the health board about a number of areas we can work together," is his diplomatic comment on the current state of negotiations with the local health authority.
Eventually, he would like to see a 50/50 mix of long-stay residents and those undergoing rehabilitation prior to a move back home.
For €850 per week, you will get full board sharing a room in TLC. A single room will cost €1,000 running to €1,800 for a couple occupying one of the double apartments.
Meanwhile, down in the basement, the MRI 'bunker' is almost ready to receive its scanner. Next door will be a reception and waiting areas.
There are two consulting rooms available for physios and doctors. Ultrasound, DEXA scanning (for osteoporosis) and plain X-ray facilities will also be put in place. A rehabilitation gymnasium completes the unique range of facilities.
TLC is an impressive development. There is every indication that it will live up to its mission statement: "The TLC centre will be a place to live, where people can enjoy a fulfilling and excellent quality of life, coupled with the best medical care available."
For further information about TLC contact 01 862 3646 or email: info@tlccentre.ie