Madam, - The building of a new national children's hospital in which all paediatric specialist services could be provided is probably the most exciting and forward-thinking achievement in Irish healthcare since the founding of the State.
An independently produced, well researched and clear report, "Children's Health First", recommended that there should only be one such centre and that it should be in Dublin. It cited ample evidence from abroad that the merging of paediatric medical specialities under one roof improves patient outcomes and value for money.
Rightly or wrongly, the Mater site has been chosen as the most likely place for the children's hospital. Once the decision is finally ratified, emphasis should be placed on creating the best facility possible for the treatment of children within a sensible time frame.
As a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon working in Yorkshire (population 5.9 million) with an under-18 catchment population similar to that of the Irish Republic, I am privileged to have all other regional paediatric specialities and facilities on site. The care of children with complex and often multi-system diseases does not require transfer between units as all the necessary expertise is available immediately and without fuss. Families are happy to travel to this hospital from all parts of the region (and often from outside it) because they are getting the best care for their child available anywhere in the world.
It was therefore with great excitement that I heard a similar hospital was to be built in Dublin. Finally, the care of children (particularly, from my standpoint, those with neurosurgical problems) was being brought into the 21st century. Given that we are starting with a clean slate, there is potential for a children's hospital even better than those in the UK and Europe.
The development of a serious international reputation would not be unrealistic and as an Irishman, I would be tempted to come home to work in such a hospital, were it to have a neurosurgical department (as it would have to).
Sadly, I read in your edition of June 29th that Protestant church leaders have suggested the hospital should be split on two sites in order that the "ethos of Tallaght Hospital" and that "the contribution of the Protestant community to healthcare" could be clearly seen. Why, I ask, could they not contribute on the same site as everyone else? Here in Leeds we treat Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc without any "other interference" to the doctor-patient relationship. All patients are treated with sensitivity to their creed and culture. The child is put first.
The statement that a single-site hospital is "not in all honesty to the good and for the good of the healthcare of children" is clearly made by somebody with little or no knowledge of the care of very ill children and it demonstrates a complete lack of commitment to "providing adequate, advanced" and "ahead-of-time medical facilities for the children of Ireland".
The suggestion of scuppering this whole project by splitting it up on religious, ethical, cultural, secular or sectarian grounds is ludicrous.
In the UK, such a suggestion would be greeted with the cynicism it deserves, particularly if the health of children was being used as a political/ideological football as it is here. Before reading this, I would have insisted to my English colleagues that (like England) the Republic of Ireland has no religious divide when it comes to such public matters.
I am clearly wrong and must ask myself whether I would like to work in a hospital where there were such boundaries and whether I could bring up my own children in a country where such a mindset exists. - Yours, etc,
DARACH CRIMMINS, Consultant Paediatic Neurosurgeon, Leeds General Infirmary, Yorkshire, England.