Medics say every hospital should have staff childcare built in

As the HSE confirms Ireland's new maternity and children's hospitals won't have staff creches, doctors tell Health Correspondent Niamh Griffin a lack of childcare can make their work all but impossible

Dr Madeleine Ní Dhálaigh at the 2025 IMO annual general meeting. She described to the Irish Examiner ‘the stress of watching the clock when you’re trying to deal with sick patients’. Picture: Shane O’Neill/Coalesce

The two multi-million euro hospitals being built in Ireland will not offer a creche for hospital staff, even as doctors call for every hospital to have “proper childcare” built in.

Onsite creches are not planned for the new National Children’s Hospital nor the new National Maternity Hospital, the HSE has confirmed.