Minister for Health James Reilly has given the go-ahead for the lodgement of a planning application for a new national children’s hospital on the Mater campus in Dublin.
Dr Reilly said the Government would make a final decision on proceeding with the project in the context of its overall review of capital spending, which will be completed in September.
It is hoped the new facility, which will merge the three children’s hospitals onto Eccles Street, Dublin, will be open by the end of 2016, a year behind its original target.
Outlining his plans for the site at a press briefing in Dublin today, the Minister said the Cabinet had accepted the finding of an independent review group that the Mater site was the correct one for the project.
He said the review group had carried out a detailed comparison of the costs of providing the hospital on alternative sites, and an analysis of the clinical benefits involved.
The Minister noted the report's view that no site provides the perfect solution and the comment of the review team that "the enemy of excellence is perfection".
Dr Reilly said he would now ask the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board to proceed "as a matter of urgency" with the submission of the planning application to An Bord Pleanála.
“It is time for everyone to come together and deliver this children’s hospital in the shortest possible time,” said Dr Reilly. “The creation of a world class tertiary hospital will need the commitment of everyone, including all those involved in the delivery of health services to children and in our wider society.”
Although the report recommends some changes to the building these are relatively minor and will not affect the overall scale of the project, according to an informed source. In particular, he said the height of the new hospital was not being reduced, as had been reported.
The alterations will necessitate changes to the design and may delay the submission of a planning application.
Dr Reilly commissioned the review because question marks were raised over whether the hospital – into which Dublin’s three children’s hospitals at Crumlin, Temple Street and Tallaght will be merged – could be built for less at a different location.
Almost €30 million has been spent on the project but the final cost is expected to reach €650 million under current projections. He said the board of the new hospital will launch a campaign for philanthropic donations to help fund about €100 million of the hospital development when the final sign-off is secured.
The National Children's Hospital will merge the existing children's hospitals at Temple Street, Crumlin and Tallaght.
It will have about 450 beds over 16 storeys, overnight in-room beds for parents, play areas, courtyards and a therapy pool with a hydro-pool and gym. A proposed helicopter pad will now be built on top of the adjacent, lower, adult hospital.
An Ambulatory and Urgent Care Centre will remain in Tallaght Hospital to provide paediatric emergency care, elective day care and outpatient services to children on the southside.
In a report, the expert team found that "in reality there was no perfect site available" for the new children's hospital.
But they "unanimously and unequivocally" recommended the Mater after comparing the cost of providing the hospital on three alternative sites - at Tallaght Hospital, James Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown and Newlands Cross
near the M50.
Project leader John Cooper said the Mater site could be opened in the final few months of 2016 whereas a new site would be another three years on top of that. "There is no financial difference between developing a project at the Mater and any of the comparative sites," he added.
Opponents of the Mater site have criticised the review team for not looking at alternative sites but a Government spokesman said this was not accurate.
Roisin Healy, of the New Children's Hospital Alliance, said: "I don't think the funding is there and I don't think children's rights were put first. e would still be hopeful the voice of sanity for the children of Ireland will persevere."
Children's Ombudsman Emily Logan said she was encouraged by the review. "My interest here is not the location, it's the greater agenda of child health and there are hundreds of children who will be affected by this decision," she
added.
The Government will make a final decision on proceeding with the project, following the spending review, in September.
The review was carried out by Dr James Mandell, paediatric urologist and chief executive, Children’s Hospital Boston; Dr James Shmerling, chief executive, Children’s Hospital at Colorado; Professor Peter Steer, paediatrician and neonatologist and chief executive, Children’s Health Services, Queensland, Australia; Dr Jane Collins, chief executive, Great Ormond Street; and John Cooper, an eminent architect with worldwide experience in the area of hospital design and construction and chair of Architects for Health.