THE €750 million new Children’s Hospital of Ireland will provide just four extra beds for sick children compared with the provision in the three existing children’s hospitals in Dublin, it has emerged.
The new hospital will open on a site beside the Mater hospital in Dublin by the end of 2014, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said yesterday. This is three years later than originally planned.
The facility, into which the existing children’s hospitals at Temple Street, Crumlin and Tallaght will be merged, will have 399 beds. This compares with 395 beds currently available for sick children in the capital.
However, Eilish Hardiman, chief executive of the development board for the new hospital, said the standard of care would be far higher than at present. All children would be accommodated in single rooms rather than wards, with space for their parents to sleep over. “It’s about giving sick children privacy and dignity, and controlling the spread of infection,” she said.
Minister for Health Mary Harney promised the new hospital would provide the sick children of Ireland with a world-class facility. Merging the three existing hospitals would result in savings of €25 million a year, she pointed out.
The presence of the Taoiseach and Ms Harney at a press conference to announce the appointment of architects to the project appeared to show the Government’s determination to press ahead in spite of opposition from the Department of Finance.
Earlier this year, the department, in a submission to the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes, said the rationale for the continued development of this and other proposed hospital projects was unclear, given the delays and the conclusion by consultants that the system already had enough acute hospital beds.
Ms Harney responded that there was no more important project in health than the new hospital, which was her “number one priority”.
Chief executive of the HSE Prof Brendan Drumm, who faces criticism after details of his 2007 bonus were revealed in The Irish Times this week, did not attend the press conference.
Funding for the project, which was originally scheduled for completion in 2011, will come from the exchequer. An ambulatory and urgent care centre will also open at Tallaght Hospital in 2013.
The Murray O’Laoire/Brian O’Connell/NBBJ consortium, which has extensive experience of building healthcare projects, has been selected as the preferred candidate to design the hospital on Eccles Street. Subject to planning permission, building will start next year and be completed by the end of 2013, with fitout continuing into 2014. Mr Cowen said the cost of running the three hospitals was €250 million a year and the new facility would harness economies of scale.
Staff at Crumlin hospital have been extremely unhappy at the decision to locate the new hospital at the Mater. They have argued that the new facility should be developed on a greenfield site. Critics contend that the Mater site is too small and would be badly affected by traffic congestion.
However, nominees from Crumlin are expected to join the development board shortly, the press conference heard yesterday.
Mr Cowen said it would be helpful if a single governance structure was put in place before the new hospital opened.
The new State hospital will have 800 car parking spaces.
