No ‘plan B’ if maternity hospital row is unresolved

Health Minister Simon Harris has said there is no “plan B” if a row over the new National Maternity Hospital is not resolved.

Mr Harris told the Seanad he hoped an agreement on the governance of the new hospital would be reached as there was “no simple option” if Holles Street National Maternity Hospital (NMH) and St Vincent’s Hospital Group “walk off the pitch”.

He said the “unedifying spat” does not serve patients well.

Mr Harris has already appointed the head of the Workplace Relations Commission Kieran Mulvey to mediate the row which has stalled the development of the much needed hospital.

The two sides have been involved in a protracted dispute over the governance of the new hospital which will be built on the grounds of St Vincent’s Hospital.

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.

Questioned by Senator Kevin Humphreys who described the spat as a “turf war”, Mr Harris said he hoped an agreement could be reached in the coming days after progress was made over the weekend.

Mr Harris said: “This is a priority project for me. I have invested a significant amount of time in this project since becoming Minister for Health because we are close to delivering a landmark project for maternity services, not just in the Dublin area but a national maternity hospital that cares for some of our sickest newborn infants.

“I have to be very honest with the senator. There is not an apparent plan B. That is why it is so important that the hospitals get this right.”

The minister added: “If these hospitals walk off the pitch, there is no simple option. The only people who will suffer, along with front-line staff, are the future expectant mothers of this country and their babies.

“We cannot allow that to happen. This process has to work. I need be very careful about what I say because I do not want to say anything that will undermine the mediation process in any way,” Mr Harris told the Seanad.

Mr Humphreys said the lives of the 9,500 babies who are born in Holles St every year and their mothers had been put at risk because of the “very cramped outdated conditions” of the hospital.

“Both hospitals have to be practical and put the health of mothers and children first,” Mr Humphreys said.

Mr Harris told the Seanad the delay is frustrating given that the project is fully funded and a plan is ready to go.

“We could lodge planning permission for the project within weeks if we find a solution,” he said.