Vol. 473 No. 3
63 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Health the progress, if any, he has made on the location of a national paediatric tertiary care centre; the cost of such a development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25060/96]
Limerick East): Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin is the established national referral centre for a number of acute paediatric services including oncology and cardiac surgery and the Children's Hospital, Temple Street provides a national referral service for metabolic diseases and neurology. My Department has been in discussion over recent months with the three Dublin paediatric hospitals on the need to adopt a more strategic approach to planning and delivering acute services for children on a national or regional basis. A meeting was held last month with the chairmen of the three hospitals to initiate this process. Subsequently, a formal request was issued that the hospitals agree a mechanism, at board and executive level, to allow for a review of existing acute paediatric services. The hospitals have been asked for a preliminary response before the end of January 1997.
