Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 104: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the proposals that have been brought to her attention to transfer maternity hospitals in Dublin to the campuses of acute general hospitals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42433/08]

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

I take it that the Deputy is referring to the findings of the independent review of maternity services in the Greater Dublin Area, undertaken for the Health Service Executive, by KPMG. That review was completed recently and the findings have been presented to the Joint Standing Committee of the three Dublin Maternity Hospitals. The report indicates that optimal patient outcomes can best be achieved by locating maternity services with adult acute services. The Report also supports the location on the one site of adult, paediatric and maternity services to give better access to on-site paediatric services when fetal, neonatal surgery and other interventions are required.

The study concluded that services at the Rotunda Hospital should move to the Mater Hospital campus, services at the Coombe should move to Tallaght and services at the National Maternity Hospital should move to St Vincent's University Hospital. The National Hospitals Office recently met with the Chief Executive Officers of the relevant Dublin Academic Teaching Hospitals (Mater, St Vincent's and Tallaght) to discuss the implications of the report for their sites.

The Report will now be presented to the Boards of these three hospitals. A presentation of the findings of the report is also scheduled for next month for a wider group of stakeholders that engaged with KPMG during the review, including the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and consumer groups. The HSE intends, following further feedback sessions, to publish the report on its website.