Hospitals object to Mater site for children’s hospital

PLANS to locate the new national children’s hospital at the Mater Hospital in Dublin are in doubt after two major hospitals raised concerns about how the decision to recommend the site was reached.

As the Cabinet meets today to decide on the recommendation, both Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children and St James’s Hospital, both in Dublin, are insisting that the issue must be deferred until it is independently reviewed.

Labour Party health spokeswoman Liz McManus said Health Minister Mary Harney should respond to the concerns expressed by the hospitals by having an early review of the process that led to the decision to locate a tertiary children’s hospital at the Mater.