Madam, – I refer to your report of February 21st on the proposed relocation of all the Dublin maternity hospitals.
The Rotunda Hospital, of which I am an ex-officio governor, has occupied its present site since the 18th century. The proposed move to the much more restricted site at the Mater will spell the end of its tradition, for in my view a tradition is made up of present and past staff and their attitudes, plus the historic building.
This move has not been sought by the Rotunda but is being enforced by the HSE and its “independent” advisers in pursuit of a notion that maternity hospitals (and paediatric ones too) need to be adjacent to general hospitals - even though it has been calculated that only 1 per cent of maternity cases need the services that a general hospital can provide.
I am also an ex-officio governor of St Patrick’s Hospital, which has shown that it is possible to continue as a private hospital with modern facilities without handing itself over to the State. If that hospital is in hock to anybody it is to the VHI and the Bank of Ireland. – Yours, etc,