Staff mark closure of Hume St Hospital

Hume Street Hospital, which treats more than 20,000 dermatology patients a year, closed this week after almost 100 years of operation in Dublin city centre.

Services at the former cancer hospital, which has specialised in dermatology since 1985, are being transferred to St Vincent's Hospital in Elm Park, Dublin.

The consultants at Hume Street and most of the nursing staff are also moving to St Vincent's Hospital.

Founded in 1911 the hospital, which occupied most of the building on the south side of Hume Street, between Ely Place and St Stephen's Green, is on sale for a price in excess of €25 million.

It is likely to be redeveloped as either a boutique hotel, offices or apartments.

The move had been planned for some time but was accelerated after it emerged last year that the hospital had received a report from fire safety consultants indicating that fire precautions in the hospital buildings were "below an acceptable level".

Staff at the hospital yesterday attended a function to mark the closure of the facility.

Carmel McKenna, who has worked as an administrator at Hume Street for more than 30 years said the hospital was a great place to work. "I've really enjoyed my time working here. It was a very homely place, both for staff and patients.

"It was not threatening in the least and I think patients really appreciated that."

Mary Duggan, the clinical nurse manager who joined the hospital in 1974, said the staff in Hume Street always had "very personal relationship with patients".

"There was always very much a person-to-person relationship and new staff always became part of the place very quickly and brought in new ideas with them," she said.

However, she believed the move to St Vincent's was positive.