THE relocation of the country’s largest maternity hospital at Holles Street to the campus at St Vincent’s University Hospital has been described as long overdue on the Southside.
Minister for Health James Reilly confirmed the move last week, which is due to take place by 2018.
Coming in at approximately
?¬150 million, the hospital will be co-located with a major adult hospital offering specialist services.
The development will be funded by the Health Service Executive.
As one of the biggest maternity hospitals in Europe, Holles Street delivers around 9,500 babies a year and employs over 820 people.
The new facility will cater for up to 10,000 births a year and will boast a high dependency unit, a neonatal intensive care unit and a special care baby unit.
Deputy Kevin Humphreys (Lab) said a new national maternity hospital was long overdue.
“Over the last decade there have been plans and proposals to co-locate the National Maternity Hospital with St Vincent’s University Hospital at Elm Park,
? he said.
“This announcement by the Government is an important push forward to realise this long overdue move, which has been years in gestation.
?
Deputy Humphreys said that in the early 2000s when he served on the Board of Holles Street, this was a long held dream.
“But the
?¬150 million of funding announced by Minister for Health James Reilly will make it a reality,
? he added. Co-location for Holles Street was recommended in the 2008 KPMG Independent Review of Maternity and Gynaecology Services in the Greater Dublin area.
“Experts agree that a maternity hospital should be co-located with adult acute services, and this will ensure modern, specialised care for mother and baby,
? Deputy Humphreys said.
“I have regularly raised this issue in the Dáil with the Minister, and I am delighted to finally see progress towards providing a new hospital.
“The National Maternity Hospital has been sited on Holles Street for over a century, and delivered over 9,000 births in 2012. It is time we provided a modern building to cope with the population boom.’
The HSE has spent over
?¬16 million on capital investment at Holles Street in the last 10 years and over
?¬2 million alone in 2011.