A report commissioned by the parents of children attending Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children Crumlin, Dublin, has found the hospital to be seriously outdated and incapable of providing clinical facilities required in the 21st century.
The report, which was presented to the hospital's management committee last week, said there was no point in trying to improve facilities through "patching" things up. Instead, the whole building should be replaced, it said.
The confidential document, details of which are published in this week's Irish Medical Times, said there was "absolutely no way in which currently accepted standards can be provided".
The author of the report, London-based hospital design consultant Dr Ronnie Pollock, found the outpatient department needed to be tripled in size to reach accepted standards; ward areas needed to be almost doubled, and the layout of the intensive care unit was poor with most available space unusable.
Furthermore, he found the accident and emergency department needed to be more than doubled.
Last night Crumlin's chief executive Mr Paul Kavanagh said the hospital did not feel the conclusions of the report were consistent with the professional advice it had received. "Our professional advice from a separate firm of architects is that we should approach the renewal of the hospital on a phased basis," he said.
"The report said the hospital is outdated and should be replaced. It is difficult to see how that could be done while continuing with services."
However, he stressed, management was not at odds with the parents' group which commissioned the report.
"We accept that a hospital built 50 years ago needs significant development. We have grown from a hospital with a small number of specialities for a local area to one with a wide range of specialities and a national remit. The hospital does need investment and renewal and we believe it can and must be done on a phased basis."
He said the first phase of developments had begun. A €40 million investment programme is under way to construct new operating theatres and other facilities.
Mr Karl Anderson, chairman of the parents' group, which commissioned the review, said the care provided by hospital staff was excellent. It was only the hospital's physical structures they had difficulty with.
"We are not interested in the blame game. We are not blaming anybody or any group for the way things are. We just wanted to present the facts of the situation so that we could move towards improving facilities. There may be a role for the private sector in this," he said.
The hospital dealt with some 20,000 admissions and 60,000 outpatient attendances last year.