Planning a Future for Neighbourhood Care
For more than two hundred years, The Royal Hospital Donnybrook has been making lives better from our neighbourhood location. Now we are looking ahead, to create better and more integrated facilities for all our future generations.
What does this mean?
Our plan is to work within the beautiful grounds of our 13.5 acre campus, preserving gardens, green spaces and trees, while adding new spaces and resources
for quality, public, health-care provision
in line with Slaintecare policy. The idea of an Integrated Care Campus is to provide spaces for diagnosis, care and healing, and for supported independent living.
What will it look like?
Maintaining the quality of our situation
is vital to us, not only for better patient outcomes, but to remain good neighbours in our community. Our plans will ensure that building heights are in keeping with our surroundings, and that the architecture will be both sustainable and generous to the environment. Landscaping will ensure that green spaces and mature trees remain, and new gardens will also be created. All building work will be carried out during the normal working day to minimise disruption, and we will work with the community, as well as with Dublin City Council to explore traffic management options. Architects drawings will be available at all phases of the project for discussion.
Why do we want to do this?
We want our site to become a key resource for the public good, with services provided directly by the Hospital. We will also create partnerships with selected service providers and leading Educational Institutions to ensure that those who come to us have
the best care possible, and that we can all continue to learn best practice in research and healing.
At present, the Royal Hospital Donnybrook is primarily a centre for recovery and rehabilitation. We also have a day hospital, offer respite care and some residential care, and run a teaching hospital. Those who come to us receive occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and physiotherapy, and we offer psychological and social services as well as specialist nutrition and diet care and advice.
Whether through illness, old age or accident, we will all face the need for these services – either for ourselves or a loved one. Those requiring longer term care and support benefit from being able to live close to other people and alongside the bustle of a supportive community.
Recent research has identified the idea
of “wasted lives” among those sent for long term recovery or assisted living to more isolated spaces.
We believe that a healthy thriving city cares for all its citizens, and commits to all their futures, whatever that future may bring. That’s why we want to build a better future for care, right in the heart of the neighbourhood.
What is an Integrated Care Campus?
Any successful recovery or rehabilitation is holistic, and so we plan to integrate a series of services on site. These include:
High quality in-patient and out-patient public rehabilitation service
This provides high-intensity rehabilitation
for adults of all ages with physical and neurological conditions, based in a sensitively designed modern hospital building. This will enable patients to leave acute hospitals as quickly as possible, or avoid admission to acute hospital entirely if we can safely meet their needs. In line with ‘home first’ principles, we will also support local patients who go straight home from acute hospital, or admit them for in-patient rehabilitation if the need arises.
RHD will continue to focus on the areas it does so well, rehabilitating both adults and older persons in a key range rehabilitation specialisms, including neuro-disability, ortho-geriatric rehabilitation and stroke services.
HSE Primary Care Centre including GP and Diagnostic Services
The Primary Care Centre will be designed to reduce pressure on acute hospital services, including chronic disease management clinics, GPs, diagnostics and primary care teams
for meeting the physical and mental health needs of patients of all ages.
Supported Independent Living
In partnership with RHD Housing, we want to provide alternatives to nursing home admission. With the Hospital alongside, offering access to our teams and the latest technologies, the Hospital can help to enable local people to live in their own community, or in supported housing on the campus, with input from round-the-clock campus-based care services where required.
Purpose-built Long Term Residential Care
When community living is no longer feasible, we will provide quality residential-care in a purpose-built facility, fully meeting HIQA standards. Residents may be admitted from the community or any of our services.
Beautifully landscaped grounds
A key feature of the Royal Hospital Donnybrook is the beautiful open areas, which are so important in providing vital healing space in a city-based campus.
We will maintain a focus on the grounds and landscaping, to create a beautiful, restorative environment for the mutual benefit of patients, residents and the local community.
Health Research and Education Activities
Facilities are important but people are our most important resource. Support for Education and Research will be central to all activities, with continuous medical, nursing, and health and social care education.
