Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 80: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the widely held view that the chosen location for the proposed new children's hospital at the Mater is a cramped and inaccessible site; if she will confirm that she will now have the decision reviewed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29054/07]

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 87: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to statements circulating in Tallaght that the children's hospital in Tallaght is to close; the position regarding the whole issue; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29150/07]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 80 and 87 together.

I have no plans to review the decision to locate the new National Paediatric Hospital on a site to be made available at the Mater Hospital, Dublin. On 31st October last, the Health Service Executive announced the details of the High Level Framework Brief for the new hospital. The Brief was prepared by Rawlinson Kelly & Whittlestone Ltd (RKW), an established UK-based health care planning company. The content of the report was also informed by the views of a range of international experts, including architectural, clinical and nursing experts. The Brief sets out the recommended model of care, the core services to be delivered at the new hospital, and the additional range of services to be provided outside of the main hospital through an Ambulatory/Urgent Care Service. The Brief will help to inform the work of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board in planning, designing, building and equipping the new hospital.

The Brief includes a detailed assessment of the capacity of the Mater Hospital site to accommodate the space requirements of the new hospital, and a maternity hospital, to meet expected demand up to the year 2021. The analysis indicates that all the requirements can be accommodated on the site, and still allow expansion capacity beyond the year 2021. The analysis found that the site offers a development area of 140,000 square metres. The overall space requirement for core services at the new hospital is 90,000 square metres. When ancillary services including Education, Training, Research, Medical Genetics and Parents Accommodation are included, the total requirement is 103,600 square metres. There is also sufficient space to comfortably accommodate a new maternity hospital on-site. The total projected bed requirement for the hospital to the year 2021 ranges from 352 to 454 beds. The estimated space requirements for the hospital have been calculated based on the upper range of bed numbers.

The Brief includes provision for all in-patients to be accommodated in single en-suite rooms, allows for the provision of on-site accommodation for parents and families, and allows for education, training and research facilities to be developed on-site. The Hospital will be at the centre of a national paediatric network, linked to regional and local hospitals, and to primary and community care services, through outreach, telemedicine, joint appointments and staff rotation. A network of Ambulatory and Urgent Care Centres (A/UCCs) will be established, to be operated by the new hospital. The first of these will be developed at Tallaght.

I am aware of the concerns relating to the future of the National Children's Hospital in Tallaght in the context of the development of the National Paediatric Hospital. It should be noted that currently the vast majority of children attending the National Children's Hospital Emergency Department do not require admission, and will continue to access their care at the new Ambulatory and Urgent Care Centre which is to be developed at Tallaght. RKW estimated in the report that, when the first A/UCC is developed at Tallaght, it will cater for approximately 48,000 Emergency Department attendances, 9,000 day cases, and 58,000 outpatient attendances. Clearly this projected level of activity would change depending on the number and location of any additional A/UCCs.