Rotunda to get €120m health suite

A new €120m health suite is to be built at the Rotunda hospital in central Dublin, it emerged today.

Dr Michael Geary, master of the Rotunda, revealed the extension would include a public maternity hospital with private facilities, fertility services and other primary care.

The new healthcare campus could be open in four to five years time.

Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney said it was an ambitious plan and appealed for private investment to cover the cost.

“I’m always very anxious to ensure that we get as much money as possible from private resources and not from the taxpayer,” she said.

“I think we need to incentivise people to look at an imaginative and innovative way of trying to provide resources other than through taxpayers.

“It’s an ambitious plan, it’s an impressive plan, but it has to be rigorously assessed on the same basis as every other project.”

Dr Geary noted that the Rotunda infrastructure only accounted for roughly half the 4.5-acre site and that a number of developments were being considered.

“Patients rightly have high expectations of quality healthcare when they visit a hospital. Equally, all of our staff take great pride in being able to deliver high-quality, safe care,” Dr Geary said.

“They want to meet and exceed standards when doing so. That’s the message we want to give to people. We aim to provide the best possible care and to be the maternity hospital of choice.”

The hospital, founded in 1745, delivers on average 20 babies a day, or 7,000 a year, and deals with more than 60,000 patients annually.

Dr Geary said preliminary discussions on the development have taken place with Ténaiste Mary Harney and the Department of Health and Children.

Ms Harney today presented the Rotunda with the country’s top healthcare award, becoming the first hospital in Dublin to be accredited with the quality mark through the Irish Health Services Accreditation Board.

“That one of the oldest hospitals in the state can comply with the most modern and most stringent international standards in healthcare provision is a testament to the management, healthcare professionals and staff of this hospital,” she said.

“I wish them every success in the future, both in their delivery of maternity care and for their future developments for the hospital.”

As part of the accreditation process, an independent patient satisfaction survey found that 95% of patients were satisfied with their care and treatment. Some 98% said the cleanliness of the hospital was good or very good.

Dr Geary also noted the hospital was free from the MRSA superbug.

“The hospital is free from MRSA due to stringent infection control practices. These involve the screening of both staff and patients,” he said.

The accreditation survey reported the Rotunda’s neonatal unit was world-class. It also commended the Domino maternity care plan, which allows women to go home within six to 24 hours of the birth.