THE new £120 million hospital being built in Tallaght, Co Dublin, will have a major responsibility to cater for all minorities, according to Prof David McConnell of the Adelaide Hospital Society. It would also need to be especially sensitive to differing views on medical ethics, he added.
The society, a voluntary charity supporting Protestant participation in the health services - particularly through Dublin's Adelaide Hospital - held its annual meeting at the new hospital in Tallaght yesterday. The Adelaide, with the Meath, National Children's and St Loman's hospitals, will be located at the new site from early 1998.
At the meeting attended by almost 500 people, Prof McConnell said the new hospital would be a flagship for voluntary participation and pluralism. "We must ensure it prospers. Voluntary participation is an example of how minorities can participate in, contribute to and share responsibility for major institutions which serve the community."
He welcomed the old charter of the Adelaide becoming the governing instrument of the new hospital and its incorporation into law. The hospital would be one of the most modern teaching hospitals in Europe. In addition, it would be multi denominational, pluralist and inclusive and act as both "a Trinity teaching hospital" and a voluntary public hospital.
"The charter defines and clearly implies that the new pluralist hospital in its identification with Protestant communities, will have a major responsibility to cater for all minorities. We will need to be especially sensitive to the differing views on medical ethics."
The charter specifies the importance of the privacy of the relationship between doctor and patient as well as the rights of staff to follow their consciences. That was part of the law of the land, Prof McConnell noted.
The Adelaide, he added, had helped to develop medical ethics in Ireland. It would be important to continue to struggle with new problems in medical ethics as they arise, such as in medical genetics.
Even in times of high technology medicine and of huge investment in hospitals, he said, private citizens could bring important skills and commitment to health services, which made them "more caring, more innovative, more efficient and kept them in touch with the communities they serve".
The chief executive of the hospital, Dr David McCutcheon, said the hospital through its charter would be rooted by participation, the involvement of voluntary support groups and "a truly inclusive ethos". It would also incorporate the spiritual component of illness.
"Our hospital will have an inclusive pastoral care support system because we believe that pastoral care has a major role to play in the healing process of our patients."
The Adelaide was entering a new and exciting era, the society's chairwoman, Mrs Rosemary French, said. Its distinctive role was being integrated into a much broader healthcare scene.
The society has raised £185,000 for financial assistance towards nursing education and has committed itself to providing £500,000 towards a new Trinity College medical and education centre being built in Tallaght.
