Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 May 2013
136. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Health if he will report on the current status of the new National Children's Hospital project; the current indicative timetable for the project including when the tendering process and construction phases will begin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22188/13]
View answerThe new children’s hospital is a key commitment in the Programme for Government and the largest project within the current Capital Plan. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) is the body charged with building the hospital. Following detailed consideration of the project management and governance structures required to deliver the project as quickly as possible and to the highest quality, I intend to restructure the NPHDB so that its sole focus is on planning, designing, building and equipping the new hospital. I am currently considering the necessary appointments to the NPHDB to ensure that it has the expertise needed to deal with this very large and complex capital project.
In the interim, senior officials from my Department and the HSE were appointed to the NPHDB in January 2013. The priorities for this transitional Board has been on reconciling the brief with the new site, site preparation, close-out of existing contracts and new procurement processes. A joint group involving the HSE and St James's Hospital are meeting regularly to progress the enabling and decant work required; a shared services group is in place focusing on identifying the facilities which can be shared so as to optimise the build; and a review of urgent care centre(s) configuration is underway and is expected to be complete within the coming weeks. The latter is key to finalising the scale of the facilities required on the St James's campus and informing the design.
Work on developing a detailed project timeline is continuing, recognising the urgency and priority attached to the project, as well as its scale and complexity. In the short-term, the contract notice for the procurement of a new design team is expected to be published in the coming weeks. The aim is to have the new design team in place as soon as possible, while complying in the tendering process with EU directives and national guidelines on procurement. The aim is to secure planning permission by December 2014.
In addition to a new building, the new children's hospital entails the coming together of three existing paediatric hospitals (Temple Street, Crumlin and Tallaght). An important step in this regard is the establishment of a Children's Hospital Group, involving the three hospitals. The Group will have a non-statutory Board of Direction which will oversee the integration of services across the three hospitals. The Children's Hospital Group will also act as client for the capital project, and will lead on service transfer planning, human resource planning, philanthropy etc., functions which were previously within the remit of the NPHDB. Dr Jim Browne has been appointed as its Chair, and will work closely with the Chairs of the three existing hospitals, who have welcomed his appointment.
This project is of huge importance for the provision of acute paediatric services for all children in Ireland and is a priority for me and for this Government. No effort will be spared in ensuring the swiftest possible completion, with optimal design and value for money.
