Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) has said it is currently engaged in a process with the HSE to finalise the workforce for the new national children’s hospital amid concerns from surgeons that it will be “understaffed” when it opens.
Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill is understood to have stressed the need for workforce requirements for the hospital in 2026 to be agreed and finalised with the HSE during a meeting with CHI in late February.
The Minister’s briefing notes for the meeting, partially released under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, show that she also wanted to tell CHI’s chair Jim Browne and chief executive Lucy Nugent that workforce planning for the new hospital was a “significant issue”.
CHI manages all national paediatric services and operates the four children’s hospitals within the Greater Dublin Area.
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Ms Carroll MacNeill’s speaking points also refer to assurance being sought from CHI that “everything that can be done is being done” to ensure that the hospital opens as quickly and as safely as possible. Her notes reference that the issue of workforce planning had been raised in the Dáil that month.
[ ‘We have planned everything:’ Inside the new national children’s hospitalOpens in new window ]
The projected completion date for the new national children’s hospital remains for this June but a subsequent “operational commissioning” phase will take at least six months, the Minister was told by her department in January.
It also said that migration to the new hospital cannot be undertaken in winter due to “clinical risks”, which suggests it may not be fully open to patients until 2026.
It is understood that CHI submitted revised workforce figures for the new hospital to the HSE last July which have yet to be agreed on. The HSE did not comment.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald told the Dáil in February that a “serious letter” had been written from 12 surgeons at the Department of Paediatric Surgery and Urology at Children’s Health Ireland to the Minister for Health.
“In this letter, the surgeons outline bizarrely that the plans for opening the new children’s hospital will see it understaffed from day one,” Ms McDonald said. “The surgeons believe they have been ignored and that the recommended workforce of 17 paediatric surgeons has not been factored in. In their words, they believe that will impact negatively on the provision of safe and sustainable services.”
The Department of Health said that during the Minister’s meeting with CHI representatives in February, she was “clear” that the opening of the hospital is a Government priority and “everything possible must continue to be done to ensure that the hospital is open and delivering care as soon as possible on behalf of children, young people, and their families”.
It also said the HSE has advised there is regular engagement with CHI on workforce requirements, including ongoing review to ensure the right workforce is in place to staff the new hospital.
“There is broad agreement that additional and expanded services in the new hospital may impact on the existing workforce,” it added. “This includes the expanded neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU) service, the new Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (Camhs) beds, as well as the increased numbers of theatres and procedure rooms. Every effort is being made to bring this process to a conclusion as soon as possible.”
