Hospital board refuses to release outside review

The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) has refused to release a report it commissioned when the cost of building the new children’s hospital shot up and external experts were asked to assess if they were “overdesigning”.

UK-based consulting engineers DSSR were called in when it became apparent in 2018 that the extent of mechanical and electrical services the new hospital would require had been severely underestimated.

Ultimately, finalisation of the detail around mechanical and electrical services added €94m to the project. The preliminary design had looked at 120 typical rooms, which then had to be scaled up to detailed design for 6,150 rooms, leading to a major increase in the quantity of materials required. Laboratory and kitchen design completed after tender also contributed to the €94m increase.The overall cost of the project currently stands at €1.7bn.

Chair of the board Tom Costello told the Joint Oireachtas Health Committee last week: “When we learned of the increase [in relation to mechanical and electrical systems], we got an outside review done.”

The review looked to see if they were “overdesigning” and found that they were not, he said.

Sinn Féin health spokeswoman Louise O’Reilly asked how much the review had cost but Mr Costello said he did not “have it to hand”.

Yesterday, Ms O’Reilly said that, as the “decision to continue with the catastrophic overspend was made on the back of that review, it is very worrying that it has not been made available”.

A spokesperson for the board refused to tell the Irish Examiner how much the review cost or to release the report. The spokesperson said DSSR were called in “to independently confirm” mechanical and electrical services were fit for purpose and that the review “didn’t relate to costs”.

The Government and HSE is embarking on another external review to look at escalation in cost of the project. The €450,000 review by PwC is due for completion in March.

A separate review will look at the existing oversight arrangements between the Department of Health, HSE and the NPHDB. Who will conduct this review and when is unclear. Currently the NPHDB reports to the Children’s Hospital Project and Programme steering group, chaired by Dean Sullivan, the HSE deputy director general. The steering group reports to the Children’s Hospital Project and Programme board, chaired by Department of Health secretary general Jim Breslin.

The Department of Health has also committed to undertaking a “scenario analysis” to identify any residual risks to the project “and is considering how best to undertake this review to ensure that it is completed in early 2019”.

Mr Breslin and Health Minister Simon Harris are due before the health committee on Tuesday to discuss the hospital project.

The new hospital is scheduled to open in 2023. It will have 473 beds, just 68 more than the current complement in the existing three children’s hospitals.