Fresh €100m critical care plan aims to halt Rotunda Hospital relocation

The Rotunda Hospital in Dublin. Picture: PA

A new planning application will be submitted for the Rotunda Hospital which, if successful, could remove the need to relocate the hospital.

An Coimisiún Pleanála refused planning permission last month for a new €100m critical care wing following successful objections from conservation groups.

It rejected the plan partly because Government policy still supports relocating the Rotunda to Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown — a proposal first announced in 2015.

Minister for health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and officials from her department met representatives of the Rotunda Hospital and the HSE on Tuesday and agreed that the Rotunda will submit a new planning application. The proposal will include two additional elements:

• Critical care capacity for women expanding on the earlier application which was focused solely on infants 
• An enhanced Sexual Assault Treatment Unit 

A Government statement said the intention is to "augment the already well-established critical care pathways between the Rotunda Hospital and the Mater Hospital by having new critical care capacity on site at the Rotunda".

"It is also important to recognise the site as an integral part of Dublin City Centre, specifically for women, in all their needs," it added.

The department of health said enhancing critical care facilities on the Rotunda site will "differentiate the Rotunda Hospital from the co-location policy because the full benefits of co-location can be achieved by the close proximity, the already established pathways to the Mater and the further strengthening with additional components of the application".

"The co-location policy is based on patient safety and that is why the Government and the minister are spending significant investment in building a new maternity hospital adjacent to Vincent’s Hospital recognising the distance between them for any necessary transfers. However, the proximity of the Rotunda to the Mater enables the existing safe care pathways. This will now be further augmented by the critical care developments at the Rotunda site.

"The intention of this Minister is to focus on the future of the Rotunda on the current site. It is open to a future Government to take a different approach.

Following the meeting, regional cinical director for the Dublin and North East Region, Dr Eamon Dolan, said: “We have seen the reality of existing clinical pathways with patients from the Rotunda being brought to the Mater University Hospital for time sensitive treatment thanks to the blue light corridor. 

"The nature of these safe clinical pathways are the embodiment of the principles of co-location. As Clinical Director for the region, I am enthused by and committed to the future plans for the Rotunda hospital.” 

Professor Sean Daly, Master of the Rotunda, added that "the plans we discussed today will not only significantly improve the critical care infrastructure at the Rotunda but will also make it an enhanced centre of care for families at the heart of our city".

He said that this "is a pragmatic approach to the future of the site and to the future of care for the women and babies".

Ms Carroll MacNeill said the Master "will bring forward a new enhanced planning application for critical care capacity for women and babies at the Rotunda as well as plans for a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit".

• Paul Hosford is Acting Political Editor.