Can we trust paediatric hospital board?

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney is rushing towards the signing of a statutory instrument which will enable her to establish the development board of the new National Paediatric Hospital.

The function of the board, according to the draft instrument, “shall be to plan, design, build, furnish, equip and commission a national paediatric hospital in accordance with the framework brief approved by the executive” — the HSE — and to “prepare plans for the transfer of services from relevant hospitals to the National Paediatric Hospital”.

The board will consist of 12 members, of whom three will be nominees of the existing hospitals (one each), one will be a nominee of (unspecified) “relevant academic interests” and eight will effectively be nominees of the minister or the HSE.