Sir, – With the fuss over the location of the new national children’s hospital at St James’s, and the on-again/off-again move of the National Maternity Hospital from Holles Street to St Vincent’s, it would be a pertinent time to also consider the fragmented arrangement of hospital services in Dublin in general.
No one hospital in Dublin can provide access to all medical and surgical specialities a person might need. In addition, the region lacks a dedicated trauma centre. Only two of our city’s hospitals can provide stenting for heart attacks after 5pm or over the weekend. None of our maternity hospitals, and only one of our children’s hospitals, are situated with direct access to an adult hospital, which is important in the event of a medical or surgical emergency.
This fragmented arrangement is clearly unsatisfactory. What is more, it requires multiple transfers of sick (and often unstable) patients between sites, as a patient may find themselves in need of the care of several specialities which are located at different hospitals.
This is not to mention the poor state of many of our city’s old hospital buildings.
Healthcare is all about teamwork. But we cannot act as a team if we don’t have all our players playing on the same pitch. Perhaps our new government could consider constructing a new hospital befitting the city to replace our existing crumbling and fragmented infrastructure?
– Yours, etc
Dr EOIN KELLEHER
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.