An urgent care centre costing €30 million will have to be built in Tallaght to cater for A&E attendances by children on Dublin's southside before the new national children's hospital is opened on the Mater hospital site on the city's northside, according to a new report.
The report from RKW Consultants said this could be followed by another consultant-led centre at Blanchardstown subject to the evaluation of the Tallaght model "and in line with capacity requirements over time".
In addition it said the potential for consultant-led outpatient services in Loughlinstown and possibly a nurse-led minor injuries service there had been identified "which could follow as a subsequent phase".
The Health Service Executive, which commissioned the report, said yesterday it envisaged having the Tallaght urgent care centre built and open by 2011. It will cater for about 35,000 A&E attendances a year and will have a number of observation beds but will not be open 24/7.
The HSE also hopes the new national children's hospital, which will cost another €800 million, will be built and operating at the Mater site by the end of 2012.
The three existing children's hospitals in Dublin - at Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght - are to be merged into the new hospital on the Mater campus. The decision received government backing in June 2006. RKW reviewed the Mater site to see if the planned new hospital would fit there. It said it was told by the HSE the site had a development capacity of at least 140,000m2 and the total space required for the new children's hospital and a new maternity hospital would be 118,600m2.
"Our analyses demonstrate that a building of the requisite scale can be accommodated on the site in line with urban developments elsewhere on the assumption that a cleared site will be available and within an overall site development capacity of 140,000m2. There are many examples of children's hospitals in buildings of comparable density and height to that which is likely to result from a development on the Mater site," it said.
It also took into account population projections to 2021 and said the number of beds required in the new hospital ranged from 352 to 454. An earlier report from McKinsey consultants recommended 380 beds be provided.
The exact number of beds in the new hospital will be decided over the next year when a design brief is drawn up. At present there are about 470 beds between the existing three children's hospitals in Dublin.
RKW has also recommended the new hospital have all single en suite rooms and include space for parents to stay overnight.
The consultants also recommend the hospital should have 20 operating theatres. The HSE said the three existing children's hospitals have 12 theatres.
In terms of the site, RKW says it can also accommodate an additional 1,800 car parking spaces. It noted plans to run a new Metro line through the Mater campus as well as to reopen Broadstone station will make access for staff and visitors easier and reduce their dependence on travelling by car. But it said these transport facilities "will not be advantageous for sick children travelling to the hospital". The new hospital will also have an urgent care centre for local children as well as a helipad.
Brian Gilroy, estates manager of the HSE, said the new hospital may be a few floors higher than the existing hospital.
He argued nobody had produced a study showing any other site was more accessible.
Staff at Crumlin and Tallaght children's hospitals are unhappy at the decision to locate the new national children's hospital at the Mater site. Dr Fin Breathnach, a recently retired consultant from Crumlin hospital, said he feared for the lives of some children if the hospital was built at the Mater given the traffic chaos around the site. He said staff in Crumlin would prefer to stay where they are rather than move to the Mater site.