Ms Eilísh Hardiman:

Yes. St. James’s Hospital’s laboratory services already support the three children’s hospitals so they help us in the diagnosis of some illnesses and conditions. The new challenge with the children’s hospitals is that we are getting successful at treating some very rare diseases and children are now surviving into adulthood. One example of that is intestinal dysfunction. It is where a small number of young children do not have any small intestine and they end up not being able to absorb some key nutritions and they have to have them delivered intravenously. That is done in the children’s hospitals. Those children are now surviving into adolescence and we are now working with St. James’s Hospital, which has the greatest gastroenterology unit, in order for those children to move from Crumlin hospital to St. James’s Hospital.

Last year, in the case of haematology, which is the blood diseases, we transferred some of the sickle cell anemia cases. Sickle cell anemia is a very rare condition. Due to the inward migration, particularly from sub-Saharan Africa where there is a high prevalence of the disease, it was evident in the children in Crumlin. We have successfully treated those children to adolescent stage and they are now transferring to the haematology services at St. James's Hospital. For the first time on this campus-----