Northern Irish independent care provider Ann's Care Homes has lodged a planning application for a £7 million (€8.3 million) nursing and step-down care facility in Craigavon, with the potential to create up to 100 jobs on completion.

According to a report by the Belfast Telegraph, the proposed facility at Lisnisky Lane would provide 69 care beds across a two-acre site immediately adjacent to Craigavon Area Hospital. The development is expected to support 40 construction jobs during the build phase, with further permanent positions created once operational.

The facility would be arranged across four care units on two floors, with single-occupancy en-suite bedrooms throughout. Services would include general nursing care, dementia nursing, mental health nursing, learning disability support, and physical disability care, alongside specialist facilities including a meeting room, activity and training spaces, and accessible accommodation for residents with physical disabilities.

Michael McQuade, director of Ann's Care Homes, said: "Across Northern Ireland, hospitals continue to face significant pressure, with patients often remaining in acute hospital beds because appropriate step-down or nursing care placements are unavailable. This development has been specifically designed to help address that challenge."

McQuade added that the facility would support the timely discharge of patients who are medically fit to leave hospital while ensuring continuity of high-quality care, helping to free up acute hospital capacity for those requiring active treatment. He noted the company had worked with health and social care trusts to understand their requirements in developing the proposal.

Sinead McAvoy, technical director of Tom Stokes Planning, which is advising on the application, described the site's location adjacent to Craigavon Area Hospital as making it "particularly well suited to supporting the health and social care system."

Founded in 1994, Ann's Care Homes is one of the largest independent care providers on the island of Ireland, employing more than 3,000 people. It operates 25 care homes in Northern Ireland, providing more than 1,260 care beds and employing approximately 2,000 staff across the region.

The application has been submitted to Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council.

Access the full details of Ann's Care Homes' Craigavon development plans at the source.