Harney welcomes hospital’s ‘ambitious and impressive’ funding plan
The Rotunda Hospital has already had preliminary discussions with the Department of Health on its plan to develop its 4.5-acre site in Parnell Square. The hospital wants the State to provide 50% of the cost, with the balance coming from private sources.
“Clearly, it is an ambitious and impressive plan but it has to be rigorously assessed on the same basis as any other project,” Ms Harney said yesterday.
Master of the Rotunda, Dr Michael Geary, said at present the hospital infrastructure only accounted for roughly half of the site.
He said the new development would include a public maternity hospital with private and semi-private facilities and, potentially, other primary care services.
He said they also hoped to develop educational and research centres and accommodation facilities.
The hospital, which yesterday received the country’s top healthcare quality award, was founded 260 years ago.
It now averages almost 20 births per day and 7,000 deliveries per year.
Referring to the award presented to the hospital by the Irish Health Services Accreditation Board, Dr Geary said it underlined that the Rotunda was a safe place to have babies in.
“Every aspect of our service and operation has been measured against the best standards in the world.”
The hospital is the first to gain an accreditation that used patients’ comments in their overall assessment.
An independent patient survey found that 95% of patients were satisfied with their care and treatment at the hospital and 98% described its cleanliness as good or very good.
