Labour Relations Commission head to chair maternity hospital row talks

Labour Relations Commission chairman Kieran Mulvey is to be drafted in to mediate a dispute between St Vincent’s Hospital and The National Maternity Hospital.

Health Minister Simon Harris convened a meeting yesterday in Government Buildings with bosses from both hospitals. The meeting was arranged in a bid to resolve the bitter dispute between the two sides, which has threatened to derail the development of the new National Maternity Hospital on the St Vincent’s campus.

In recent weeks, a dispute over governance structures after the NMH’s planned move from Holles St to the St Vincent’s campus has delayed the lodging of a planning application for the €150m project. The NMH wants to retain a separate board and an obstetrician/master as chief executive. St Vincent’s wants both hospitals run by the same board, on which the maternity hospital would have two seats.

Senior government sources say this round of discussions “is the last throw of the dice”.

So far, €4.73m has already been spent in preparation for the move — despite the process not yet reaching the stage where a planning application is submitted. That money will be wasted if agreement is not reached to pursue the relocation.

Mr Harris now looks set to ask Mr Mulvey to mediate the dispute in meetings beginning next week.

Yesterday’s meeting came about after both sides agreed to the appointment of the high-profile mediator to lead a final effort at resolving the row. It comes as the outgoing chair of the health committee, Jerry Buttimer, said a social partnership model is only way to solve the long-term health crisis.

Mr Harris has promised to establish an all-party committee to draft a 10-year plan for the health service.

However, newly elected senator Mr Buttimer says this cross-party committee will not work unless stakeholders such as union officials and representative bodies are made members of the committee.

“I think delivering a 10-year plan is a positive but what we don’t need is a political talking shop,” he said. “What we want is an all-encompassing social partnership model.”

Mr Buttimer said a “cross-sector approach” is needed where doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other interested parties are part of the committee and are not just asked in as expert witnesses.

“Rather than having come in as expert witnesses, you employ them as stakeholders,” he said.

“What we need to develop now is a social partnership model where we can bring in certain interests. That requires that we will park vested interests.”

Mr Buttimer added that this system would take longer but would provide a solid plan for the future of the entire health system.

Ministers this week signed off on a motion to establish the all-party committee which will look into the long-term health policy in Ireland.

Mr Harris said: “The first announcement I made as minister for health was my intention to establish an Oireachtas committee to develop cross-party consensus on the future of the health service.

“I strongly believe that the health service would benefit enormously from a single unifying vision that we can all get behind and that can help to drive reform and development of the system over the next 10 years.”

Mr Harris said he would be moving to set up the committee as quickly as possible.