Construction at the site of the new Children’s Hospital of Ireland will begin by the end of the year. The new pediatric hospital will be expected to open in 2014.

The hospital will be a state-of-the-art facility with the voice of children heard in its planning, design and operation, according to Minister of Health Mary Harney. She said to a conference in Dublin Castle that the hospital would place “a very strong emphasis on the voice of children and the engagement of children”.

“A very important part of the new pediatric children’s hospital is not just the building. The building is the enabler – it is the facility, it will be state-of-the-art. But what’s more important than the building is the people that work in that building, the expertise, how that expertise works together. That’s not something that can be done overnight”, she said.

Chief executive of the hospital’s development board, Eilish Hardiman, said building work on the site beside the Mater Hospital in Dublin would cost “significantly less” than the original estimate of €750m.

Three Dublin hospitals, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, Temple Street and the National Children’s Hospital in Tallaght will transfer patients to the 16-storey facility.
The hospital will contain 392 inpatient beds, all in single rooms, with facilities accommodating parents who wish to stay overnight.

She said the state had committed €400m for the project and it was hoped a further €100m would come from donations.

Ms Hardiman said planning applications would be submitted in two packages in July and August. Enabling work would begin at the end of the year before construction started early in 2011.

There will also be 81 daycare beds, split between the new ambulatory and urgent care centre in Tallaght and the Mater site.
An advance information technology system linking the hospital to pediatric facilities around the country will mean children outside the capital will benefit as well.

Bringing three hospitals together was not unique to Ireland.

HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm said there were many examples in Australia, America and Britain where merging a number of hospitals had been the subject of vigorous debate.

“This should not be viewed as a negative reaction but a reflection of the deep loyalty people have to their hospitals which have served their communities so well.” he said. “Change of this magnitude is always complex, but we have come through the painful stage.

“We now have a golden opportunity to create what can be … one of the world’s greatest children’s hospitals.”