‘Lack of clarity on Swords Primary Care Centre farcical’

A Fine Gael local election candidate has said a ‘lack of clarity’ from the HSE regarding plans for a Primary Care Centre for Swords is ‘farcical.’

Luke Corkery, who is set to run for a seat in the Swords electoral area in June, said:

“As we enter 2024, we mark twelve years since the HSE identified Swords as a ‘priority area’ to locate a primary care centre.

“The people of Swords – a town with a growing population of more than 40,000 – are waiting more than a decade for this crucial facility.

“The updates given by the HSE have been sporadic, to say the least. In February 2022, the HSE’s Capital and Estates Division confirmed that a Primary Care Centre would be operational in Swords by 2025.

“It was then announced last Summer that the HSE were working towards an Agreement for Lease with the preferred provider in late 2023.

“Since then, we have seen nothing, other than a HSE letter to Fingal County Council dated 15th August 2023, outlining that the provision of a Primary Care Centre for Swords is a ‘priority’ for the HSE.

“If it’s such a priority, where is the plan? I, for one, haven’t seen it.

“Despite the latest Census showing Swords as the eighth largest urban area in the entire country, and despite the crystal-clear need for adequate local healthcare provision, we are being left in the dark with regard to something that has been talked about for more than a decade. It’s infuriating.

“We can expect a Primary Care Centre to include three to four community primary care teams, as well as dental, audiology and social inclusion sections, and GP accommodation. It would also include the kind of improved specialist care that has been lacking in our area, from CAHMS services, to integrated care for older people and people with chronic diseases.

“The commitment is there, and the lease has supposedly been agreed, so where do we stand? I’d ask the HSE to give the people of Swords some clarity; it’s the very least they deserve.