The Minister for Health Mary Harney has given the clearest signal yet that the State's largest children's hospital, Our Lady's in Crumlin, could be closed and replaced by a new facility elsewhere in Dublin. Martin Wall reports
The Government has accepted for some time that the current infrastructure at Our Lady's hospital does not, in general, meet the standards required for a modern paediatric centre. This is despite significant investment in the hospital in recent years.
A project team was established to plan for the hospital's development, either at its existing location or at an alternative site. It is understood an outline development plan drawn up earlier this year indicated that it could take up to 11 years to develop a new children's facility at Crumlin.
This would involve a three-year pre-construction phase and eight years of building work. Construction work at the site could also cause disruption to patient services, which would have to continue in parallel.
Ms Harney said the HSE was currently considering plans for the urgent upgrading of some facilities at Our Lady's hospital, which was required in advance of any redevelopment or move. She said this plan included the provision of 25 dedicated inpatient cardiac beds and improved diagnostic, outpatients and administrative facilities.
However, in a written parliamentary answer in the Dáil, Ms Harney said "it was now likely" that a new children's hospital would be developed at an alternative site.
"The project team concluded that the existing clinical services could be retained and developed on the present site, but also set out the implications of such an approach in terms of time, cost and disruption to services. As a consequence, it is likely that the new hospital will be located at an alternative site."
The Minister for Health's indication that a new paediatric hospital would be developed in Dublin comes at a time of uncertainty over the future of services for children in general in the capital.
The Irish Times reported last month that the HSE was to commission an expert from Britain to examine paediatric services.
Separately, the chief executive of the HSE, Prof Brendan Drumm, warned that the viability of three separate hospitals providing some services for children could be under threat as a result of the introduction of the European Working Time Directive for non-consultant doctors. This will require the employment of significantly more non-consultant doctors on medical teams to work within the new 58-hour working week.
In recent months there was also uncertainty over the development of the new Mater hospital complex, which will contain a new children's hospital to replace Dublin's Temple Street hospital. Department of Health officials said last week there was still an open mind on where a replacement hospital for Our Lady's in Crumlin would be built.