Pictured at the signing of contracts for the alterations and extension to the New Ross Community Hospital were Jim Collins (Vice Chairman Board), Adam Hall (Adam Hall Architecture), Owen Leacy (Mythen Construction), Alan Morrissey (Project manager). Front- Laura Collins (Director of Nursing), Maurice Mythen (Mythen Construction), Frances Ryan (Chairman Board). Pic: Jim Campbell

WORK ON building an extension to New Ross Community Hospital will begin this week.

Contracts for the project, which will include extensive internal alterations to the existing building, were recently signed at the hospital when representatives of Mythen Construction met with Board members and the hospital’s Director of Nursing, Laura Collins.

Among those in attendance at the signing were the Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the Board, Frances Ryan and Jim Collins.

Speaking to the Echo on the day the contracts were signed Ms. Collins said described it as great news for the hospital and for New Ross.

“We signed the contracts this morning with Mythen Construction,” she said.

“Work will begin on the project on January 4 and is expected to be completed by the summer,” she added.

In addition to the construction of a new extension the €1.2m project will see extensive alteration work carried out internally at the facility which caters for people from a wide catchment area around the town and district.

Ms. Collins said the work will include the conversion of existing wards into a number of double-bed units and a single bed ward.

The new extension will include an eight-bed ward, a hairdressing salon, a multi-purpose room and a treatment room for physiotherapy.

The new part of the building, which will be visible to visitors on the approach to the hospital, will also include a secure garden.

The hospital itself will have to raise €150,000 for the project while the HSE is also expected to provide financial support to the scheme.

Ms. Collins said the remainder of the money will be provided by the hospital itself as a result of prudent management over the last number of years.

The extension and refurbishment design was created by Adam Hall, from Adam Hall Architecture, and the work will be overseen by Alan Morrissey.