Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the terms of reference given to the firm or firms of consultants during the evaluation of the case for the relocation and expansion of the National Children's Hospital; if due regard and consideration was given to the previous and long-standing policies in respect of the MANCH group of hospitals; if these prior commitments are being honoured in the context of the current proposal; if access, site location and the actual size of the site were deemed to be of major importance originally or now; if the present proposals meet any, all or none of the criteria in relation to the MANCH group; if the site adjacent to the Mater Hospital was deemed suitable at that time; if a comparison was made between the two sites on the grounds of parking availability and the total area of land available for the development in respect of each case; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6176/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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In late 2005, the Health Service Executive (HSE), at my request, undertook a review of tertiary paediatric services. McKinsey & Company were engaged by the HSE to advise on the future strategic organization of tertiary paediatric services in line with best practice and in the best interests of children.

The resulting report — "Children's Health First" — International best practice in tertiary paediatric services: implications for the strategic organization of tertiary paediatric services in Ireland — was presented to the HSE in February 2006. It included a number of key recommendations:

The population and projected demands in this country can support only one world class tertiary paediatric hospital

It should be in Dublin, and should ideally be co-located with a leading adult academic hospital (i.e. should be within a practical walking distance of such a hospital)

It should also provide all the secondary (i.e. less complex) hospital needs of children in the Greater Dublin area

It should be supported by a strategically-located urgent care service.

A Task Group was established in February 2006 to advise on the optimum location of the proposed new hospital. The Task Group invited the six major Dublin hospitals, including the Adelaide and Meath Hospital, incorporating the National Children's Hospital (Tallaght Hospital) to make submissions.

The Task Group engaged in extensive consultations with, inter alia, the three existing paediatric hospitals. Each of the paediatric hospitals expressed strong support for the development of a single paediatric hospital, and emphasized the crucial need for decisions in relation to the new hospital to be taken urgently. Consultant representatives reiterated their commitment to move to the new hospital regardless of its location, a point which appears to have been lost in recent debate.

Proposals were also received from a number of private hospitals, property developers and site owners. However, none of the proposals presented by the private interests satisfied the key requirement of co-location with an adult academic teaching hospital.

The Task Group concluded that each of the six sites demonstrated the feasibility of accommodating the proposed new paediatric hospital. However, it was the Task Group's view that Connolly Hospital, St. Vincent's University Hospital and Tallaght Hospital did not offer the same breadth and depth of tertiary services to complement the paediatric hospital as the three other hospitals, and on this basis they were ruled out as co-location options.

Following detailed assessment of the three remaining sites in relation to the criterion of ease of access, the Group considered that Beaumont was significantly less suitable than St. James's or the Mater in terms of ease of access, particularly for the children in the greater Dublin area who would have to use the hospital for less complex care. Consequently, subsequent assessment focused on St. James's and the Mater hospital sites.

Based on further assessment, the Task Group recommended that the new National Paediatric Hospital should be developed on a site to be made available by the Mater Hospital.

The Task Group's report and its recommendations were endorsed by the Board of the HSE in June 2006. At its meeting on 8th June 2006, the Government strongly endorsed the recommendation of the Board of the HSE, in line with the recommendation of the Report of the Task Group, that the new National Paediatric Hospital be developed as an independent hospital on a site to be made available by the Mater Hospital. The Government has recently reaffirmed this decision.

The Government mandated the HSE to move forward with the development of the new hospital and its associated urgent care centres, and to explore any philanthropic proposals in relation to its development.

A joint HSE/Department of Health and Children Transition Group was subsequently established to advance the development of the national tertiary paediatric hospital.

The next stage of the process, which is being overseen by the Transition Group, involves the preparation of a high level framework brief for the new hospital. The brief is being developed for the Transition Group by Rawlinson Kelly & Whittlestone Ltd (RKW), an established UK-based health care planning company. RKW will be advising on a range of issues which will help to inform the design of the new hospital. They will be advising, for example, on the preferred model of care, on the core services to be delivered at the new hospital, and on the additional range of services to be provided outside of the main hospital. In this context RKW have been requested to advise, as a priority, on the range of services which should be provided outside of the main hospital through the urgent / ambulatory care service, taking account of international best practice in the planning of children's hospital services.

RKW is consulting widely in the course of its work, and in this context the input of all stakeholders will be of benefit in ensuring the delivery of our shared objective of providing a world-class hospital for the children of this country.