St James's €604m children's hospital has 'unparalleled array of services'

ST JAMES’S Hospital in Dublin has said the proposed national children’s hospital could be developed and fitted out on its campus by 2015 at a cost of €604 million.

It said the construction and fitting out of the hospital would cost €484 million while the overall cost for the provision of a separate maternity hospital would be a further €120 million.

Publishing its plans for the national children’s hospital yesterday, St James’s said it had an unparalleled array of secondary, tertiary and quaternary services for children and adults.

It said the development of the national paediatric hospital on the St James’s Hospital site would present “an unprecedented opportunity to effect further development of significant clinical synergies” on the campus.

These included a national adult and paediatric burns treatment, plastic surgery, clinical dermatology, cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, clinical immunology, medical oncology, haematological malignancies – national bone marrow transplant units and haematological conditions (benign) including sickle cell anaemia and coagulation disorder.

St James’s said it was the only hospital submitting proposals to the Government’s review group on the children’s hospital at which children with cancer could be provided with on-site radiotherapy.

The St James’s bid is being supported by the largest existing children’s hospital, Our Lady’s Hospital in Crumlin.

The proposal would involve the development of an eight-storey facility at the Rialto end of the existing campus and would be connected to the adult hospital by a short link corridor.

It said the St James’s campus was the most suitable transport location of all those which had been proposed. “The new hospital will be of world-class design for the treatment and accommodation of children,” the proposal stated

“The design will create a ‘hospital that doesn’t feel like a hospital’, avoiding long straight corridors, maximising daylight, creating green play areas, using architecture for way-finding and introducing a sense of fun.

“A link corridor of just 10 metres will connect the children’s hospital to St James’s Hospital: due to the proximity of the buildings it will be possible to connect the paediatric and proposed maternity hospitals at all levels.”

St James’s said the estimated building cost for the children’s hospital, excluding the bill for fitting out, was €410 million, with a further €100 million construction cost for a proposed maternity hospital.

“There are estimated operational annual savings of circa €32 million into the future based upon a tri-location model, providing excellent value for public money.”

St James’s said that, subject to planning, it was anticipated “that the co-location of the national paediatric hospital can be effected by 2015”. The 15.5-acre site was capable of accommodating a national children’s hospital, associated parent/guardian accommodation, a maternity hospital and had space for future related service expansion, the proposal said.