Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Health who cannot be here this evening. I thank the Senators for raising this matter and I am pleased to take the opportunity to update the Seanad on the new children’s hospital. At the outset, I emphasise that the project to develop the new children’s hospital is an extraordinary opportunity to enhance paediatric services for children. The planned accommodation will include facilities for inpatients, day-care patients, outpatients as well as operating theatres and emergency care services. There will be 380 inpatient single en suiterooms, of which 60 will be critical-care beds, 93 day-care beds and 20 operating theatres. Outpatient and urgent care facilities will also be provided at two satellite centres on the campuses of Tallaght and Connolly hospitals, providing local access for families. As more than simply hospital facilities, the new children’s hospital and satellite centres will be research intensive academic health-care institutions.

The granting of planning permission in April 2016 for the hospital, satellite centres and related buildings was a huge and very welcome milestone for the project. An internationally recognised design team, supported by an experienced national paediatric hospital development board and project team, is in place to drive the new children's hospital project and ensure it is delivered in accordance with national policy on optimal design and value for money. The sum of €650 million for the hospital relates to Exchequer funding approved in 2014 for the core construction of the new children’s hospital, together with the two satellite centres. This funding was approved following a cost estimate that commenced in 2013 and which was completed in early 2014.

At that time, construction inflation was estimated at 3%. The tender process for the core construction elements for the new children's hospital and satellite centres at Connolly Hospital and Tallaght Hospital has recently been completed. The pricing proposed by the tenderers took account of construction inflation, which is now running at higher than 9%, the extended project timeline, which is now scheduled to be completed in 2021, and the final market cost of the build. Local and international companies participated in the tender process and more than 35 people participated in review panels for the tenders. The tenders were reviewed and measured against a number of technical and financial criteria and were independently peer-reviewed by construction experts with extensive experience of projects of this size and complexity. I understand that it was a highly competitive process. Following its conclusion, a company has been notified that it is the preferred bidder.

While there has been much media speculation about the cost of building this hospital, I am informed that the final proposed cost is actually within 5% of projections and that the successful party was the one with the most competitive tender. The Department is aware from the national paediatric hospital development board that the tendered construction costs per bed suggested in recent media commentary are not accurate and do not resemble the actual tender costs. Furthermore, it has been previously stated that the construction tender does not include equipment, which will be funded through annual operational expenditure, or ICT costs. These elements of the project were always to be funded and procured separately. Funding for educational facilities and commercial elements such as retail and car parking were also separately identified from the core construction costs for the new children's hospital.

The new children's hospital and satellite centre programme is made up of three interrelated elements, namely, the building, the ICT infrastructure and the operational integration. It includes the change management needed in order for the three existing hospitals to become one and the actions required ensure the smooth, safe and efficient transition to the satellite centres and new children's hospital. Work is ongoing to finalise the heads of Bill to merge the three existing children's hospitals into one entity to further facilitate this service integration.

This complex programme of work is set out in the definitive business case for the new hospital. Now that the construction tenders have been completed, the capital costs put forward in the preferred tenders have been incorporated into the definitive business case. This was recently submitted to the HSE for final review after which it will be considered by the Department of Health.The Minister intends to bring the definitive business case to the Government in the coming weeks for decision.

We need to remind ourselves that, over the past decade, a clear case for the development of a new children's hospital has been discussed. The Government decision in 2012 to locate the hospital on the campus of St. James's was made in the best interests of children from a clinical perspective. Independent reviews since 2006 have reaffirmed the importance of co-location of the paediatric hospital with a major adult academic teaching hospital. St. James's has the broadest range of national specialties of all our acute hospitals, in addition to a strong and well-established research and education infrastructure. This makes it the hospital that best meets the criteria to enable the children's hospital achieve our vision of excellence in modern paediatric practice.

As announced in June 2015, the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital will in time relocate to the St. James's campus, achieving tri-location of adult, paediatric and maternity services. Tri-location has benefits for children, adolescents, newborns and mothers. In all cases, the benefits of tri-location are maximised where the adult hospital provides the broadest possible range of clinical sub-specialties and expertise, which are readily accessible for paediatric and maternity patients on the shared campus. We have an opportunity to deliver a considerable positive change in health care for Ireland's children and young people, and the priority must be to advance this project as soon as possible.