HSE chief defends hospital site decision

The chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Prof Brendan Drumm, has said he does not believe theological arguments should enter into the debate on the location of the proposed new national children's hospital.

Delivering the RTÉ Radio 1 annual Littleton lecture, which was broadcast yesterday, Prof Drumm said medical rather than theological arguments should form the basis of the decision on how tertiary care is provided for children.

He said there was general agreement that tertiary care for children - complex surgery and medical procedures - should be provided on the one site. "I do not believe that theological arguments should enter into how we provide care at the tertiary level," he said. "It should be medical arguments."

Prof Drumm rejected the idea that the decision to locate the planned national children's hospital at a site on the Mater hospital complex - in the Taoiseach's constituency - had been a political one.

The leaders of the main Protestant churches in the State have in recent months expressed concern about the plan, which would see existing paediatric services at Tallaght, Temple Street and Crumlin hospitals transferred to the Mater site.

They have urged the Government to consider basing the new children's hospital across two sites, one of which would be Tallaght hospital.

Speaking earlier this month, the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr John Neill, described the existing plans for the proposed paediatric centre as "ill-conceived" and said they arose from a flawed process which was not good for children.

Dr Neill, who is president of Tallaght hospital, has also warned that the hospital is in danger of being downgraded.

Speaking after a meeting with the Taoiseach on the issue last summer, the Archbishop said:

"We are very concerned also that the Tallaght hospital should be seen as a major tertiary teaching hospital within the State where the contribution of the Protestant community to healthcare could be clearly seen. And the ethos of Tallaght hospital is very clear, that all that is lawful within the laws of the State must be worked out in a doctor-patient relationship without other interference, and we are very concerned that this particular aspect of the ethos of medical care should be provided for within the State and that our contribution lies in that area."

In his lecture, Prof Drumm argued that change in the health service was essential and that the present arrangements were unsustainable in the longer term given the demographic patterns.

He said that, in drawing up the HSE structure, Ireland was almost unique in separating healthcare and politics.

He said there also had to be a move away from the idea that the HSE was "a charitable organisation that provided healthcare to those without health insurance". He said everyone had paid into the system.

Prof Drumm said the call for more acute beds was a wonderful argument for those who wanted to continue doing things as they were done in the past.

He said a lot of the criticism of the health service came from within its own ranks and he suggested that there was an association between this and an unwillingness on the part of some to engage in change.

Prof Drumm said that in future the service would withdraw funding from areas that were inefficient.

He said everyone should be given a discharge date on admission to hospital and if this was not provided an explanation should be offered, as the patient was paying for the service.