Parents urge redevelopment of children’s hospital

THE redevelopment of the country’s largest hospital for sick children must be given the urgency it deserves, a parents’ lobby group will tell Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney today.

Linda Dillon, whose daughter, Alice, six, was treated for cancer at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin, said nothing had changed in the hospital since the campaign group was formed in 2003.

Children's health continued to be compromised by a lack of space and facilities, said Ms Dillon, chairperson of the New Crumlin Hospital Group.

"The hospital was built in the 1950s as a local hospital and was never intended to be used in the way it is now. It treats the sickest children in the country and the risk of cross-infection really has to be seen to be believed," she said.

"I spent the best part of two years in the hospital when my daughter was seriously ill and every time I go back there I am reminded why I joined the parents' campaign group," she said.

"We are not campaigning for our children, we are campaigning for our grandchildren because we realise how long it will take to get the kind of hospital we want for them. Knowing that actually makes it easier for me because it is not about my child, it is about the next generation."

The hospital treats more than 110,000 children every year. Ms Dillon said not all parents were aware that it was the only hospital in the country that treated seriously ill children.

"If we walk away from this everything will stay the same and nothing will happen," Ms Dillon warned.

The New Crumlin Hospital Group is optimistic, however, that Ms Harney will tell them what they want to hear today that, like her predecessor, she is committed to have the hospital completely redeveloped and recognised as a Centre for Excellence in Tertiary Paediatric Care by 2009.

The group's founder member, Karl Anderson, said they had been assured by former Health Minister Micheál Martin that there would be a seamless progress from one stage to the next because the need was so urgent.

It is also expected the independent review group's report on the death of two-year-old Roisín Ruddle will be on Ms Harney's desk soon.

That report by the three-member expert panel is likely to put the minister under further pressure to bring the hospital into the 21st century.

The Limerick toddler died in her mother's arms in July 2003, just hours after her heart surgery was cancelled at the hospital.

The independent inquiry into the little girl's death began in September 2003 after her parents demanded to know why she died.

Currently, finance is arranged through the National Treatment Purchase Fund to send children needing cardiac surgery to Britain and the US for treatment.