The former private maternity hospital, Mount Carmel, has been officially reopened as a community hospital.

Around 300 staff lost jobs when the Dublin hospital, which also provided general surgery services, went into liquidation and closed in January 2014.

At that time, the Department of Health and the HSE decided against taking over the hospital, which had debts of over €35 million.

Around 1,300 births took place there annually.

However in August 2014, the HSE confirmed that it had purchased the hospital with the hopes of reopening it as a step-down facility for people who no longer need acute care in hospital, but cannot immediately go home.

Mount Carmel Community Hospital opened on a phased basis in April of this year and the facility has now been officially opened. It offers a range of short-stay community beds, including step-down beds, assessment beds and rehabilitation beds. Other services, such as physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy, are also available.

"This is a very welcome development in Dublin. It means that people who no longer need to be in an acute hospital but who, for a variety of reasons, cannot immediately go home or to residential care, are looked after in a more appropriate environment. Acute hospitals are geared towards acute care. This community hospital can provide non-acute services in a calmer and more holistic way," commented the Minister for Primary and Social Care, Kathleen Lynch.

While the facility initially worked with acute hospitals on Dublin's north side, it has now extended its services to all acute hospitals in the Dublin region and the National Rehabilitation Hospital.

To date, 100 patients have been admitted to the hospital. Their average length of stay has been 24 days.

Commenting on the facility, HSE director general, Tony O'Brien, said that this is part of ‘an overall strategy to reduce delayed discharges and emergency department trolley waiting times in acute hospitals'.

"The experience here to date shows that 76% of all admissions have facilitated patients returning to their own homes, which is recognised as the most desired outcome," he noted.

The hospital currently has 65 beds, however the long-term development of the facility, which is expected to take three years, will see this rise to 100 beds. The cost of this refurbishment is estimated at around €5 million.