Private donors come to aid of children’s facility

A vital facility catering for some of Ireland’s most seriously ill children has been dragged into the 21st century after big-hearted private donors stepped in to fill a Government funding hole.

From today, cardiac patients at Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, will be treated at the newly opened 27-bed children’s heart centre.

The ward, which cost €4.5m to develop, replaces the antiquated St Teresa’s unit, which was built in the 1940s and has been regularly criticised for its lack of resources and space for seriously ill children.