Hospitals protest over delay to €500m redevelopment

The boards of the Mater hospital and the Children's University Hospital in Temple Street, Dublin, have written to Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney and the chief executive of the Health Service Executive, Prof Brendan Drumm, expressing concern over delays which are preventing a planned €500 million redevelopment of the hospitals from going to tender.

It emerged at Christmas that the planned redevelopment of the Mater hospital and the construction of a new children's facility to replace Temple Street - the most expensive healthcare project in the history of the State - was facing further delays.

Approval for the project is now not expected until the completion of a review, commissioned by the HSE, of the organisation of specialist services for children.

This report is expected to be submitted at the end of the month. However, under its terms of reference, it will not specify where tertiary paediatric services should be based in the future. This is likely to be the subject of a further study, which could delay the Mater/Temple Street project for several months more.

It is understood that, in a letter to Ms Harney and Prof Drumm last week, the chairmen of the Mater and Temple Street hospitals as well as the chairs of a joint holding company and a separate body established to carry out the redevelopment expressed concern at the delay in putting the project to tender.

Informed sources said the letter - signed by John Morgan of the Mater; Donal Walsh of Temple Street; Des Lamont of joint holding company MMCUH and Sister Helena O'Donoghue of development company MCHD - set out a compromise proposal for the site.

It is understood that the letter urged the HSE and the Department of Health to allow work on the initial part of the project - an underground car park, which is to be located beneath the proposed new hospital facilities - to proceed immediately.

The letter maintains that the car park element of the project would take at least a year to complete. In the interim, the Government could decide on its future plans for paediatric services in Dublin.

The letter is also understood to have pointed out that considerable resources have already been spent on planning for the new Mater/Temple Street project, which was agreed by the Cabinet more than five years ago. Over €40 million has already been spent on it. In addition, two religious congregations - the Sisters of Mercy and the Sisters of Charity - swapped land holdings in Dublin to facilitate the project.

The Sisters of Charity at present operate two major public hospitals on the south side of Dublin city while the Sisters of Mercy hold responsibility for the two Catholic hospitals on the north side.

The letter from the chairs of the Mater and Temple Street boards of management came at the same time as senior doctors at Temple Street were expressing concern at the delay.

The Mater/Temple Street redevelopment plan, which has full planning permission, was scheduled to go to tender last autumn with a view to having construction begin next month.

However, the plan was initially delayed following concerns raised last summer by the Department of Finance over the costs of running the new facility when it was constructed.

The Department of Finance set a condition for agreeing to the overall €600 million health service capital funding for 2005 that the Mater/Temple Street development could not go to tender without its specific approval. It was concerned at the running costs of the new facility, including the requirement for additional staff.

A confidential financial assessment of the project, given to the HSE some months ago, stated that the new Mater/Temple Street complex would cost about €10 million more to run annually than was the case under the current budgets of the existing constituent hospitals.