St James's makes revised NCH bid

St James’s Hospital in Dublin has said the proposed new national children’s hospital could be developed on its campus by 2015 at a cost of €410 million.

It said the provision of a new maternity hospital would cost a further €100 million.

Publishing its plans for the national children’s hospital today, St James’s said it had an unparalleled array of secondary, tertiary and quaternary services for children and adults.

It said the development of the national paediatric hospital on the St James’s Hospital campus would present “an unprecedented opportunity to effect further development of significant clinical synergies” on the site including:

- national adult and paediatric burns, plastic surgery,

- clinical dermatology,

- cardiology,

- cardiothoracic surgery,

- clinical immunology,

- medical oncology,

- haematological malignancies,

– national bone marrow transplant units and haematological conditions (benign) including sickle cell anaemia and coagulation disorder.

St James’s said it is the only hospital submitting proposals to the Government’s review group on the children’s hospital where children with cancer could be provided with on-site radiotherapy.

A cross section of the proposed new national children's hospital at St James's in Dublin

St James’s said it already had the largest pharmacy, radiology and laboratory service within the state. It said its laboratory had the capacity to take on all paediatric lab work.

“The new hospital will be of world-class design for the treatment and accommodation of children," the hospital said in a statement.

“The design will create a ‘hospital that doesn’t feel like a hospital’ avoiding long straight corridors, maximising daylight, creating green play areas, using architecture for way-finding and introducing a sense of fun.”

“A link corridor of just ten metres will connect the children’s hospital to St James’s Hospital: due to the proximity of the buildings it will be possible to connect the paediatric and proposed maternity hospitals at all levels.”

St James’s said the estimated cost for the new children’s hospital was €410m, with a further €100m for a proposed maternity hospital.

“There are estimated operational annual savings of circa €32m into the future based upon a tri-location model, providing excellent value for public money.”

St James’s said that subject to planning, it was anticipated “that the co-location of the national paediatric hospital can be effected by 2015".

It said the proposed 15.5 acres site was capable of accommodating 188,500 sq m - exceeding the target set by review group. It said it was capable of accommodating a national children’s hospital, associated parent / guardian accommodation, a maternity hospital and has space for future related service expansion.

“We believe that the proposal to tri-locate paediatric, maternity and adult services on a single campus at St James’s provides a unique opportunity to create a future-proofed healthcare setting that has immediate, direct benefits for children and adults and satisfies the requirements set out by the review group, enabling the development of a model of care - consistent with all of the principles established by McKinsey - around the largest grouping of health services already in existence on a single campus in Ireland.”