Madam, – As someone who has been in practice for 56 years, I ask, has there been adequate consideration given regarding the siting of the proposed new national children’s hospital? And who made the current decision? I ask now, before the proposed hospital plans are sent out for tender.
The Mater Hospital is an excellent hospital but, surely, the proposed site is on a space which should be left for future expansion of this public hospital?
I have visions of distraught parents coming to Dublin to visit a very sick child and, on top of that, trying to negotiate chaotic traffic into the city. Remember, the new hospital will have to cater for sick children from every quarter of the land.
In better times, a successful businessman offered a free site and organised a syndicate to build the hospital. The offer was turned down.
Common sense tells us that the hospital should be sited on the outskirts of the city, convenient to all major approach roads. The essential services should include diagnostic facilities, as well as the usual paediatric, medical, surgical and isolation units.
Apart from physiotherapy and rehabilitation, there should be adequate grounds for recreational facilities for the recovering children. Ideally, a hostel should be built on the grounds to accommodate anxious parents who might wish to be near their most likely frightened child. – Yours, etc,