The Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady have announced that they agreed to sell both St. Francis Hospital and St. Clair’s Nursing Home in Ballinderry, Co. Westmeath.
The two institutions are to be taken over by the Belfast-based firm VFM Healthcare (Ireland) in the next few months.
The sale was motivated by the need for the investment of money into the business to secure its future in the healthcare sector.
While the deal means the order will no longer have day-to-day responsibility for managing the hospital and the nursing home, the Sisters said they would continue to have a ‘pastoral’ role in both.And in a statement announcing the sale, they said they were confident that there would be no job losses because of the takeover.
“The Congregation is delighted to confirm that in the context of the sale of the business the employment of those employed in the nursing home and hospital is secured,” they said.
Consultation on the sale and its implications has begun with employees and unions in advance of the sale being concluded.
The Franciscans said the VFM Group, “has significant expertise in the healthcare sector in both the UK and Ireland” and was already in “community-focused projects in primary care, elderly care and the future provision of modern state of the art private acute hospital premises in Belfast.”
The order said it was proud of its 44-year association with the hospital and the nursing home and the care they had provided to patients over the years. It wished the VFM Group every success in its plans for the future development of the facilities.
General Manager of St. Francis Hospital, Ms Noeleen Sheridan said she was delighted healthcare service would continue at the two institutions and said the sale should be viewed in a positive light.
She said the VFM Group had been involved in elderly care and primary healthcare in the UK and Northern Ireland and managed hospitals in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
St Francis’ Hospital has prided itself on its Catholic ethos and its dedication to providing a high- quality healthcare service.
The Franciscans recently decided to build their own convent at a cost of €1m to house the seven members of the community.
Up to now, the nuns lived in the medical centre which they set up in 1968 on a small scale but which was subsequently developed into a fully-fledged hospital and nursing home campus and now has 60 acute beds, 43 nursing home beds and four theatres.
Three years ago, a new 16-unit consulting clinic was developed in a joint venture between the Franciscans and consultants working at the clinic.
SIC: CIN/IE