Mayo's Sacred Heart Hospital to mark its 50th anniversary

by Dr. Michael M. O'Connor

The 50th anniversary of the Sacred Heart Hospital, Castlebar, will be celebrated tomorrow (Friday), beginning with a Mass at 11 a.m.

The facility, located at Pontoon Road in the county town, was officially opened on October 30, 1973, by Tánaiste, Minister for Health and Labour Party TD, Brendan Corish.

The minister told the assembled crowd on that autumn day that services for the elderly were high on his list of priorities.

The new facility was built to accommodate 316 patients and was considered to be one of the most modern facilities of its kind in Ireland.

It was to serve as a modern geriatric hospital for County Mayo. It was emphasised at the opening that services provided by SHHC would be orientated towards the community.

Patients would, it was noted, be encouraged to participate in occupational and recreational therapy so that they could lead a full life while in the hospital and return to the community as quickly as possible.

The Sacred Heart Hospital has been at the centre of community life in Castlebar and the wider county since 1973.

In that time, countless patients, staff, visitors, contractors, public representatives and officials have passed through its doors while the hospital itself has undergone tremendous change.

While the historical archives show the hospital’s fortunes have always been inexorably tied to the ebbs and flows of the Irish economy and the bargaining position of elected representatives from the county, the records also evidence deeply rooted public support for the hospital and its nurses and staff over the decades since it was opened.

The idea of a new geriatric hospital was first mooted in 1961.

Mayo County Council, in conjunction with the Department of Health, decided to build a new hospital when it was determined that the County Home or the Sacred Heart Home, as it had come to be known, could not be modernised.

Planning meetings and meetings of the council were held in December 1961 to advance the project. County manager Liam McLoughlin noted that a 400-bed hospital on a twelve-acre site adjacent to the County Home would, at a conservative estimate, cost £350,000.

This, he told the meeting, would amount to a levy of 8.5 pence in the pound for ratepayers over 50 years. The new facility would accommodate 350 patients.

Mr. McLoughlin favoured building the hospital on a site adjacent to the County Home on the Pontoon Road, north of Castlebar.

The merits of a new building versus a reconstruction of the existing County Home structure had been rehearsed at a council meeting the previous August.

Alternative sites for the proposed facility were discussed, including the Castlebar Celtic football grounds beside the County Home.

As the playing fields comprised a mere three acres, the new hospital would require an additional nine acres.

Castlebar Celtic believed the writing was on the wall and retained experts to advise on alternative sites for a new playing surface.

Architect J. McCormack also expressed a strong preference for the site adjacent to the County Home.

The county manager pressed the need to proceed quickly with the development. He contended that a consideration of alternative sites would delay the project further. He also expressed concern that a change in the economic climate could hold up the scheme.

In the end, despite dissenting voices, the meeting decided to build the new hospital adjacent to the County Home. The County Home itself would be demolished.

The building of the new hospital and demolition of the County Home would proceed on a phased basis. Patients would be transferred from the old to the new as each new section was completed.

The fact that the proposed site contained a cemetery where hundreds, if not thousands, of those who died in Castlebar Workhouse and Fever Hospital were interred was not, based on published accounts of proceedings, considered at the meeting. This issue would arise at a later point in time.

In October 1965, it was announced that the Minister for Health, Donagh O’Malley, had sanctioned the building of the new hospital at a cost of £500,000.

The news was well received in Mayo as it was feared the development would be delayed due to the worsening economic climate.

It was billed as one of the largest projects sanctioned in the west of Ireland. As such, it was expected to generate considerable employment in Castlebar.

A meeting of Mayo County Council was scheduled for October 16, 1965, to discuss the level of debt finance required to proceed with the project.

The Western People noted that the contract had been awarded locally. It was estimated the project would take forty-two months to complete.

The County Home that was to make way for the Sacred Heart Hospital dated back to 1842.

(Dr. O'Connor's history of the Sacred Heart Hospital can be downloaded free from the Facebook page of the County Mayo History & Heritage Group).