Children's hospital review outlined

The Government has published details of an independent review of the decision to build a new national children’s hospital on the site of the Mater hospital in Dublin.

Under the terms of reference, a financial analysis and clinical review will be carried out before a report is submitted to Minister for Health James Reilly.

It is understood the review will be submitted in four weeks.

Details of the two-pronged review were published this morning.

The children's hospital project received another setback yesterday with the appointment of Eilish Hardiman as chief executive of Tallaght Hospital. Ms Hardiman is the chief executive officer of the children hospital’s development board.  Speaking in March, she said she still expected the new hospital to be built by 2015, subject to planning.

The review will compare the estimated costs of building and running the hospital on the proposed site with those associated with building the controversial development on "notional" alternative sites.

Design and access issues will be examined as part of the review.

The financial analysis will be carried out by John Cooper, an architect with experience in hospital design and construction, under the auspices of the European Health Property Network, which is a collection of European governmental and research organisations responsible for the strategic planning and management of hospitals and health centres.

Mr Cooper will report and work with four international experts, all chief executives of children’s hospitals, drawn from the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions and the Children’s Hospitals International Executive Forum.

The four chief executives will perform the clinical review.

The Minister emphasised this morning the need for the project to be delivered in the most cost effective way with the maximum benefit for patients. “It is my intention to ensure the best possible clinical outcomes for children within the resources available," he said.

“I wish to thank the international experts who have agreed to carry out this review and I look forward to the delivery of their report in the shortest possible timeframe.”