THE NEW national paediatric hospital will be a state-of-the-art facility with the voice of children heard in its planning, design and operation, according to Minister for Health Mary Harney.
The sod is due to be turned on the new hospital at the controversial Mater hospital site by the end of the year, with construction expected to begin in 2011.
Ms Harney told a conference in Dublin Castle yesterday that the hospital would place “a very strong emphasis on the voice of children and the engagement of children”.
Alluding to criticisms of the project from within the medical profession, she admitted there were challenges ahead.
“A very important part of the new paediatric children’s hospital is not just the building. The building is the enabler – it is the facility, it will be state-of-the-art.
“But what’s more important than the building is the people that work in that building, the expertise, how that expertise works together. That’s not something that can be done overnight.”
Ms Harney was speaking at the Children in Hospital Ireland’s European Association for Children in Hospital 2010 Conference.
Other speakers included Health Service Executive chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm and National Paediatric Hospital chief executive Éilish Hardiman.
Delegates from European countries and Japan gathered in Dublin Castle for the day-long event.
Ms Hardiman said the facility, into which the existing three children’s hospitals in Dublin – Tallaght, Temple Street and Crumlin – are due to be merged, will be built by the end of 2014.
Planning applications are to be made in July and August.
Ms Hardiman forecast that costs would be less than the predicted €750 million, due to the downturn in the building sector and greater competition.
The hospital will contain 392 inpatient beds, all in single rooms, with facilities accommodating parents who wish to stay overnight.
There will also be 81 daycare beds, split between the new ambulatory and urgent care centre in Tallaght and the Mater site.
Prof Drumm said the project and change of culture was a “significant challenge” and that “change of this magnitude is huge”.
A small protest was held outside Dublin Castle by two groups.
RoseMary Dwyer, who works in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, said the site should be changed to the fringes of the city, close to the M50.
“We can’t give up, right to the very end. This needs to be fought, it’s not the right decision, it’s not the right place for a national children’s hospital,” she said.
Conor O’Higgins (24) also called for the site to be changed.
“The Mater site has no room for parking. It has no access, no room to expand,” he said.