Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this very sad issue. I had an opportunity to read about the case and to hear Vivienne's mother speak on the radio at the weekend. It is a heartbreaking story. It is important that we raise awareness of strep A, especially among the medical profession, including nurses, and among parents. It is tragic to think that perhaps if treatment had been given sooner, if an antibiotic had been prescribed sooner, that young Vivienne would never have ended up in hospital at all, never mind having the experiences she endured.

Phase 1 of the paediatric department in Cork University Hospital has been built and commissioned providing dedicated cystic fibrosis outpatient accommodation in CUH. Phase 2 is currently being developed. I am told it is at detailed design stage. It involves high-dependency beds and specialist haematology-oncology beds to accommodate the needs of paediatric patients in Cork for the next ten to 20 years.

Carrying out major surgery and therefore providing an ICU in CUH is a different matter which will be down to medical advice. At the moment we have two national centres for major surgery and paediatric ICU, namely in hospitals in Temple Street and Crumlin. The current advice from the experts is that they should be consolidated in one national centre, that is the new national children's hospital which will open next year. Whether having regional centres would produce better outcomes in the round is a matter for experts but we must bear in mind that spreading expertise, skills and resources more thinly does not always mean better outcomes for everyone.

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