Set for demolition but Temple Street voted best acute hospital

A CHILDREN’S hospital due to be demolished as part of the plan to create a single new national facility for children has been voted the best acute hospital in the country.

Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin, which is to be replaced by the new national children’s hospital, came top of a league based on votes by parents and patients on the Rate My Hospital (www.ratemyhospital.com) website.

While the ranking, which is based on the standard of medical and support care for patients, might be viewed as good or bad news in the context of the replacement plans, one aspect of the voting is indisputably ominous — the hospital ranked second worst in the country when it came to availability of car parking.

Opponents of the replacement plan have repeatedly cited parking problems in the vicinity of Temple Street as one of the key disadvantages of siting the new hospital just yards away on the campus of the adjacent Mater Hospital.

The latest rankings take into account the votes of almost 5,500 members of the public who logged their views between September last year and the end of January this year. Ratings have been released monthly, but the January update is the first time that acute hospitals have been ranked separately from specialist hospitals.

When all 50 hospitals are ranked together, St Lukes in Dublin, which provides cancer services, comes out as the overall best hospital in the country, followed by St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital in Cork, while Temple Street is in third place.

St Luke’s has consistently taken the top spot since the online survey began while Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda has remained in the bottom few each time. Ratings publisher John Gibbons said the findings revealed persistent problems in certain hospitals.

“There are 50 hospitals and 5,500 votes so you would expect that there would be some levelling out of the figures but we are finding out that hospitals that were getting poor results three months ago, they are simply not getting any better.”

The hospitals are assessed on a wide range of issues including the standard of care, cleanliness, efficiency, staff attitude, food, child friendliness and privacy, and while anyone can vote, contributors must answer 23 individual questions before their views are logged.

The system is set up to prevent people voting more than once a month, but Mr Gibbons admitted it was impossible to completely exclude the possibility of people falsely providing positive comments or attempting to sabotage the reputation of other hospitals.

“That can never be ruled out, but you will have people who are begrudgers or who have axes to grind as well as people who carry torches for particular hospitals. We reckon there is about 5% at either end.”

Sections have also been created on the website where voters can write comments about their general experiences in hospital and also single out departments or individuals where they received outstanding care. Comments that finger named individuals for criticism are not included for legal reasons.

Mr Gibbons said he welcomed the fact that some hospitals had begun carrying out exit surveys which gathered the views of patients on their release, but he said his website probably provided a more accurate picture.

“Really you want to get out and get home and when you are at home you are better able to make a dispassionate judgement on your experience.”