The Tallaght Hospital Board has been told it could take up to 10 years to iron out all the problems associated with merging three hospitals in the new facility. But a board spokesman has insisted that the hospital open on schedule next January despite the reservations of the individual hospitals.
Representatives of the Adelaide, the Meath and Crumlin Children's Hospital met the Minister for Health last week and outlined a number of reasons why the date could not be met. It is understood the Minister was told that the opening would have to be postponed until next May at the earliest. However, a Department spokesman said yesterday that no decision had yet been taken on the option of postponement.
Meanwhile, Cllr Eamonn Walsh, cathaoirleach of South Dublin County Council and a member of the Tallaght Hospital Board, has insisted the hospital is on schedule to open in or around next January. But he said this would depend on the constituent hospitals accepting that the new facility would not work perfectly from the first day.
Last week's board meeting was advised the hospital would need a 10-year "bedding down" period, with constant problems to be overcome from the moment staff moved in. Cllr Walsh said: "It was the first piece of realistic talk we've had for a while and it was refreshing to hear."
Reservations about the planning arrangements are outlined in the latest annual report of the Adelaide Hospital. Quoted in the current issue of Irish Medical News, the Adelaide's cardiology department complains of a planning process "frustrating in the extreme, with delays of 18 months and more for decisions regarding simple changes essential for patient safety, both in the coronary care unit and in the electrocardiogram department of the new hospital".
The report also claims working conditions in the Adelaide's own electrocardiogram department are a "disgrace", with two cardiologists working without offices or secretaries, and with no provision made for attendance at planning meetings for the new hospital.
Meanwhile, the department of neurology complains there has still been no approval for the purchase of a magnetic resonance imaging scanner for Tallaght: "It seems inconceivable that the newest hospital in the State, with a large department of orthopaedic surgeons and a neurology department, should not be provided with a scanner."
