Sir, – Late last week, the one million children that live in Ireland woke up with an uncertain medical future and the inevitable prospect that their medical care will fall further behind in international terms. The best care for sick children has come into conflict with the finer points of planning. A continuation of the current overcrowded, Dickensian conditions in our paediatric hospitals is simply not acceptable.
A few essential points, we believe, should be made: a single tertiary paediatric hospital is the only solution; it should be co-located with an adult teaching hospital and adjacent to a maternity hospital – and research and education are not optional extras. An agreed national model of care for children will ensure high quality care for children right across the State. We urge that every effort be made to put the National Paediatric Hospital project back on track. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – James Sheehan’s contribution on building a national children’s hospital (Opinion, March 2nd) reeks of common sense and is therefore, I presume , beyond consideration by our masters in bureaucracy. – Yours, etc,