A DECISION to grant conditional planning permission to the State's largest private healthcare provider, the Bons Secours Health System, for a €100 million expansion to its hospital in Cork has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála.
The company obtained conditional planning permission from Cork City Council for a five-storey extension to the hospital on College Road in Cork but this has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála by Michael and Catherine Dillon from Carrigfern on College Road.
The Bons Secours was granted conditional planning by Cork City Council on August 15th for the extension which will allow it to expand its cancer, cardiology, orthopaedic, acute medical and surgical services.
In their appeal, the Dillons said they believed the proposed extension would "diminish the character of this existing hospital building of architectural significance" and they expressed particular concern about the extension's height.
The extension would increase the height of the existing building by 45 per cent and was "out of scale and changes the character of the surrounding area", said the Dillons, adding that increased traffic flows in the area as a result of the expansion would pose a traffic hazard at several busy junctions.
Bons Secours Group chief executive Pat Lyons said earlier this year that the planned expansion would allow for the development of a new cancer centre with radiotherapy to add to existing services in medical oncology, surgery, radiology and pathology.
The development at the hospital, which currently has more than 18,000 admissions and 29,000 outpatients annually, would also feature some 80 private rooms to bring its bed capacity to more than 420 and it was expected to take two years to complete, once planning was cleared, he said.
The development will also include a theatre extension to accommodate a major expansion of orthopaedic services, two additional "clean air" orthopaedic theatres, day ward facilities, intensive care unit and cardiac care unit expansions and endoscopy and laboratory expansions.
According to An Bord Pleanála, a decision on the project, which also includes providing an additional 399 car spaces, will be made by January 22nd.