About Bloomfield Hospital
Bloomfield Hospital is an independent charity (Registered Charity Number: 20005344) providing care and support to people with severe and enduring mental health needs like Alzheimer’s and dementia, schizophrenia, and Huntington’s disease.
Bloomfield has a long, proud history of service. It was founded in 1812 by the Quakers in Ireland and is an early model of multi-faith tolerance, serving people of all faiths since then.
Our Purpose
Every day we set out to make a positive change, to lead the way in care innovation for those living with high-dependency mental health conditions, neurological and neurodegenerative disorders.
We do this by providing personalised holistic care, a state-of-the-art specialised rehabilitation unit, and a residential treatment centre which functions as a place to live and thrive, and to feel supported and heard.
Our Mission
At Bloomfield Hospital, we’re on a mission to provide outstanding treatment and support to adults with severe and enduring mental health needs.
Our aim is to be a leader in the development of responsive, innovative, and excellent services for people with mental health needs. We will do this by identifying and addressing unmet needs in mental health care alongside our key partners, and by continually improving quality in mental health care through education, research, and advocacy.
Our Vision
We envision a world in which every person with mental health needs participates as an active member of our community and society.
We enable our clients to live their lives to the fullest through our specialist approach that champions innovative, holistic, and person-centred care. Justice, commitment, and quality are the core of everything we do, and each day we set out to make a positive change in the field of healthcare through these enduring values.
Our Values
These are the beliefs that empower us, and drive us forward each day.
We care for and about our people
We strive for justice in everything we do
We deliver services of the highest quality
We enable our community to live and thrive to their best ability
These are the beliefs that empower us, and drive us forward each day.
This is who we are. This is Bloomfield.
Board of Directors
John McNeilly
Chair
Colm O’Boyle
Helen Fanning
Drewry Pearson
Kevin Conlon
Sheilagh Reaper-Reynolds
Robert Haughton
Robin Goodbody
Thorsten Niermeyer
Charles McGuinness
Senior Management Team
Joe Kelly
CEO
Aoife O’Connor
Head of Quality, Risk and Compliance
Roger Smyth
Deputy CEO & Financial Controller
Amanda Farrell
Executive Assistant
Cathy Shelley
Director of Nursing
Dr. David Denton
Clinical Director
Fiona Monahan
Head of HR
Marc Dalton
Head of Facilities
Our History
For more than 200 years, we’ve been championing the rights of adults with enduring mental health needs and high-dependency conditions.
In 1812 members of Quakers in Ireland opened a retreat in Donnybrook, Dublin 4 to provide humane treatment for people ‘afflicted with disorders of the mind’. This was the beginning of what became known as Bloomfield. Its care and treatment was modelled on the ‘moral treatment’ provided in The York Retreat in England, founded in 1796.
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Over time, Bloomfield expanded to encompass sheltered living (Westfield) and nursing home care (New Lodge) in the 1960s. In 2005 it moved to its current location in Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.
The Jewish Home of Ireland closed its nursing home in Rathmines in 2005 and their residents moved into New Lodge. In 2008, with substantial capital funding from the Health Service Executive (HSE) we built an extension that doubled the number of beds in the facility. Kylemore Clinic — a long-stay residential psychiatric unit operated by a Methodist charity in Ballybrack — closed in 2009 and its residents moved into some of these new beds. We closed Westfield in 2009.
In 2015, we opened Ireland’s only specialised care facility for the treatment of Huntington’s disease. Three years later we established one of Ireland’s first Specialised Rehabilitation Units. Following a review of our vision, mission, and values, New Lodge Nursing Home was closed in 2022.
We returned to our roots in 2023, focusing exclusively on psychiatric and neuropsychiatric care. It is clear that this is where the greatest need lies, one we can address through our uniquely innovative, holistic, and person-centred care.
Throughout our long history, we’ve taken lessons learned over two centuries and channelled them into providing outstanding treatment and support to adults with enduring mental health needs and high-dependency conditions. We are uniquely qualified to care for these individuals, offering a space for them to feel supported and encouraged as they navigate their lives.
Our Governance
Our team of highly experienced and passionate healthcare professionals is aligned with a desire to provide forward-thinking and exceptional care. Our Board includes individuals who are part of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) who kindly give their time freely. We don’t have a parent entity, nor do we own or control any subsidiary entities, and no individual has a controlling interest in our company. All our members have an equal vote at our general meetings.
Our members elect directors to run the company on their behalf. We can have a maximum of 14 directors and a minimum of six. The Ireland Yearly Meeting is entitled to nominate three directors to the Board. Our directors are all voluntary and are not allowed to take any paid position in the company…
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Our Board oversees an executive management team which runs the company on a day-to-day basis.
As a registered charity, we’re funded by the Health Service Executive (HSE) under Section 39 of the Health Act, 2004.
