The Rotunda Hospital in Dublin has warned planning objections could delay “for years” a proposed €100 million new wing for critically ill women and infants.
It said this would result in “significant risk in terms of providing optimum care” to patients transferred to it from all over the country.
The Master of the Rotunda Prof Sean Daly has urged the Government to “review the planning process, with respect to healthcare-related infrastructure, where delays are costly both in human and financial terms”.
In a letter to Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill he said he understood it may not be possible for her to influence the process but argued “in matters such as healthcare, alternative solutions need to be considered”.
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During the summer, Dublin City Council granted permission for a new critical care wing which Prof Daly said was “essential, both locally and nationally, for the provision of high-quality pregnancy-related and neonatal intensive care. This will reduce risk to the most vulnerable cohort of patients in our healthcare system.”
The project, which is expected to cost in excess of €100 million, is planned for the western side of Parnell Square.
However, the plan has been criticised by conservation groups.
Following the initial planning application, heritage organisations Dublin Civic Trust and An Taisce said the development would irrevocably damage the 18th-century square and the potential for its regeneration and restoration, once the hospital was relocated, under longer-term plans, to Blanchardstown.
Graham Hickey of Dublin Civic Trust confirmed it had appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
He said the plan was inimical to the conservation status of Parnell Square. He maintained the proposed development was not a limited expansion of the existing facility but rather a de facto replacement for the Rotunda Hospital.
He said the planned building would be larger than the existing hospital and would effectively transform the west side of Parnell Square “into a street”.
Prof Daly said the Health Service Executive and Dublin City Council have been “extremely supportive of this initiative”.
“Nationally, there are four tertiary-level neonatal intensive care units, hosted at National Maternity Hospital, the Coombe hospital, Cork University Maternity Hospital and the Rotunda Hospital. Each unit deals with the most vulnerable premature and sick infants in Ireland.
“None of the Dublin hospitals have access to single-room facilities for these infants, which is a key component in terms of reducing the risk of infection and improving survival.”
He told the Minister the hospital was “encountering obstacles in relation to the proposed development from a number of bodies, including An Taisce and the Dublin Civic Trust”.
Prof Daly said the hospital invited critics to meet senior management. He said he had wanted to “explain the importance of this development and give them an insight into the healthcare perspective of our initiative”.
He said Dublin Civic Trust had indicated it intended to appeal the initial planning decision without wishing to meet or to even listen to the Rotunda’s point of view.
“The consequence of an appeal ... may delay the development for years, resulting in significant risk in terms of providing optimum care to women and babies who are transferred to the Rotunda Hospital from all over the country”, Prof Daly told the Minister.
Mr Hickey said his organisation had received correspondence from the hospital in July. However, there was no point in engaging, as the Rotunda had a fully developed proposal that had just received planning permission.
“It was a fait accompli,” he said.
