Beaumont seeks more beds and child hospital

Beaumont Hospital in Dublin wants to be selected as the site for the new national children's hospital. The north Dublin hospital is also seeking 250 new beds in its five-year strategy published yesterday.

Earlier this month, the Health Service Executive said the three children's hospitals in Dublin would be merged into one and the site would be chosen within the next two months.

Beaumont chief executive Liam Duffy said he could make a strong case for locating the children's hospital on the Beaumont campus.

Beaumont was an acute hospital and it already had "significant expertise" in a number of specialist areas of paediatric medicine, including neurosurgery and cochlear implants, Mr Duffy said.

The hospital's location was also suitable as it was close to the M50, the N1 and the N2. And its campus of over 53 acres gave it room to expand, Mr Duffy added. "We certainly fit the bill and we should be considered."

He said the hospital was seeking 250 new beds for a number of reasons. Some 60 beds were earmarked for a new medical assessment unit which would ease pressure on the emergency department. Approval had already been secured for 30 of those beds.

Another 30 were needed for critical care patients while the rest of the beds were needed to meet the expected growth in the hospital's workload over the next five years. The hospital's current occupancy rate was more than 100 per cent, Mr Duffy said.

"This is a basic requirement to make it physically possible for us to refurbish and improve existing wards, to isolate patients when necessary and to facilitate efficient cleaning - all important aspects of our battle against hospital-acquired infections."

One of the key initiatives in the new five-year strategy is the development of a "supra-regional" cancer centre, including radiotherapy services.

Some of the other projects in the strategy include:

Evaluation of the case for a private hospital on campus;

Further development of the national renal transplantation service to include living donor transplants;

Delivery of the approved 60-bed psychiatry unit;

Expansion of neuroscience facilities;

Reduction of six bed wards to four bed wards;

Development of the Symptomatic Breast Service;

Provision of the approved day hospital for care of the elderly and psychiatry of old age;

Development of a stroke unit;

Delivery of an interim facility for diabetic day care centre, chest pain clinic, EEG department and cochlear implant unit.

Beaumont Hospital employs over 3,000 staff, has over 700 acute beds and serves a population of more than 250,000 people.