Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 January 2014
181. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Health his plans to honour his previously stated commitment to move the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital to Tallaght; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4409/14]
View answerA comprehensive review of maternity and gynaecology services in the greater Dublin area was completed in 2008. The KPMG Independent Review of Maternity and Gynaecology Services in the Greater Dublin Area Report was informed by an international analysis of maternity and gynaecology service configurations and best practice models of care.
The report noted that Dublin’s model of stand-alone maternity hospitals is not the norm internationally. It recommended that the Dublin maternity hospitals should be located alongside adult acute services and that one of the three new Dublin maternity facilities should be built on the site of the new children’s hospital (tri-location of paediatric, maternity and adult services). In this context the proposal was that the National Maternity Hospital was to be relocated to St Vincent's, the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital to Tallaght and the Rotunda to the Mater. In May this year, I announced the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital to the St Vincent’s campus.
Recognising the need to plan for the provision of tri-located maternity, paediatric and adult services, and in view of the Government decision to locate the new children’s hospital on the St James campus, it will be necessary to review the other maternity-adult co-location plans. This review will take place in the context of the development of a National Maternity Strategy. I confirmed on 10 October last that my Department will lead the development of this Strategy in collaboration with the HSE and its National Clinical Programme in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The Strategy will provide the blueprint for the safe, effective delivery of maternity services nationally. The development of the Strategy will build on the work already undertaken as part of the KPMG Independent Review, and on the work underway by the Clinical Programme.
