Senator Fitzpatrick seeks €2.5m in funds for Rotunda Hospital

Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick has written to the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly TD seeking €2.5 million in funding for the Rotunda Hospital to improve facilities for the provision of women and baby’s health.

In a statement, Senator Fitzpatrick said: “I am calling for a design team to be appointed to oversee detailed design and final business case for a new Critical Care Wing at the Rotund Hospital in Dublin in order to address serious concerns around dangerous and outdated facilities which are putting lives at risk.”

“The Rotunda is the world’s oldest maternity hospital and it is the busiest maternity hospital in the country.

“It delivers approximately 8,000 babies a year, that’s one in six of all babies born in Ireland. One in four neonatal ICU babies are delivered in the Rotunda Hospital.”

Senator Fitzpatrick said that the hospital is “delivering 21st century medical care in an 18th century infrastructure.”

“The building is creaking. It is overcrowded. The neonatal intensive care units are too small, the postnatal wards are overcrowded, and the delivery suites are insufficient,” she said.

“I urge the Minister to take this opportunity to change the states approach to women’s health and make a real commitment to women’s health in our capital by approving the €2.5m for the Rotunda which will help reduce risk to mothers and babies and make sub-optimal and dangerous facilities fit for purpose,” she said.

Minister Stephen Donnelly TD has been contacted for comment.