Kids’ hospital group presents a strong case

AN EXPERIENCED hospital developer has offered to help build the National Children’s Hospital (NCH) at Connolly on a voluntary basis if the Government re-locates from St James’s to the M50 site.

Jimmy Sheehan, who is co-founder of the Blackrock, Galway and Hermitage Clinics, made the offer during a recent presentation by the Connolly for Kids Hospital (C4KH) group to the Oireachtas Health Committee.

Sheehan is confident that should the Government reverse its decision to build at St James’s, a children’s hospital could be built at Connolly within three years.

With the design work already done twice – once for the Mater and again for St James’s – he believes a planning application could be submitted within months as lot of the design can be re-used and adapted to the new site.

“Nothing would give me more satisfaction at this stage of my life than to help develop the new children’s hospital on the Connolly site,” he said.

“I would be delighted to offer my services on a purely voluntary basis to ensure that the hospital would be up and running three years from the time of such a decision being given the go ahead.”

Sheehan explained that huge efficiencies could be realised by commissioning the hospital simultaneously with the design and construction phases.

This is the method employed in the three clinics Sheehan helped develop. The Blackrock Clinic was constructed and commissioned in 12 months, and the Hermitage in Galway in 15 months.

He also believes cost savings of approximately €200 million can be made by building the hospital on a greenfield site instead of at St James’s and he’s outlined serious site complications at St James’s, which he says will add significant cost, as well as delays, to the project.

Building the children’s hospital at Connolly also has the backing of retired children’s cancer specialist, Dr Fin Breatnach, who has pleaded with the Taoiseach and Minister for Health to reconsider the location.

Dr Breatnach also presented to the Oireachtas Health Committee on October 27 along with other members of the C4KH group.

A transcript of the public hearing is now being sent by the committee to Minister for Health, Simon Harris, and the Department of Health. Minister Harris will attend the Health Committee meeting this Thursday (November 10) and has been requested to respond then to the concerns raised by Connolly for Kids.