NCHA accepts that a decision regarding the location of the National Children’s Hospital has been made by government. NCHA considers the choice of St. James to be a very poor one. In particular, it is unacceptable that the need of our sick youngest citizens, our newborn babies, for optimal care is being long fingered. Only ‘ultimately’ (press release http://health.gov.ie/blog/press-release/government-decides-the-location-for-the-new-childrens-hospital/ ) is it planned to build a Maternity Hospital at St.James.
NCHA considers the 150 acres at Connolly Hospital, immediately accessible off Dublin’s M50 ring road, to offer unrivalled potential to deliver best medical care for all citizens of Ireland – both adults and children – for the long term future. The Connolly site must be mothballed and protected for such development.
Meanwhile, unless the government has a change of heart regarding the project, there should be no delay in commencing what can only be a short-term strategy – building the children’s hospital on the co-located* James – Coombe campus. As the country cannot afford to build both a new maternity as well as a new children’s hospital in the more expensive inner city, NCHA believes the children’s must be built beside, and physically linked to, the existing Coombe Maternity hospital.
*The McKinsey Report definition of Co-location (p27) is “within a practical walking distance”. The walk from St James to the Coombe we understand to be 7-8mins.
Adult hospitals don’t have children, Maternity and Children’s hospitals do. The few adult hospital staff who are needed in the children’s or maternity hospitals can walk, jog or cycle – sick babies can’t.
To read the Dolphin Report and allied documents, go to http://www.dohc.ie/issues/