Child hospital’s ex-boss begs Reilly: scrap Mater plan

This story was first published in the Irish Mail on Sunday on 26/02/2012

By: Michael O’Farrell
Investigations Editor

THE man originally tasked with building the National Children’s Hospital has pleaded with Health Minister James Reilly to abandon the controversial Mater site.

Prominent businessman Philip Lynch resigned as chairman of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board in 2010 claiming the preferred location, in Bertie Ahern’s constituency, was being forced through for political reasons.

And last night Mr Lynch told the Irish Mail on Sunday that he believed the new €650m hospital will never be built on the Mater site despite Government suggestions that plans for a smaller building might now be pursued in the wake of this week’s planning rejection by An Bord Pleanála.

‘It’s a shame for the people of Ireland,’ he said. ‘It’s absolute and total blackguarding, what’s gone on.

‘No hospital is going to be built because I don’t believe the money is there to do it and this can is being kicked around this street for the last 15 years. Even in the boom it didn’t get done. It’s horrendous.’ Speaking exclusively to the MoS Mr Lynch said the hospital plan should be abandoned completely and replaced with a strategy to increase bed capacity at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin.

‘Harness the people in Crumlin,’ he said. ‘Crumlin know what’s needed. They’re the people looking after all the sick kids. They’re the people with the knowledge and the know-how.’ And he lambasted those, such as former health minister Mary Harney who persisted with the northside location despite questions over its suitability.

‘Had we accepted this two years ago we would of course have had it built,’ he said. ‘But this site was imposed on us and there was no way back. We asked questions and I was pulled aside by the minister and the department because I asked the questions.

‘If the nose hadn’t been taken off the people on the board who were asking the questions we’d have got there three years ago.’ Now Mr Lynch is pleading with current Health Minister to ‘take politics out of it’. ‘There’s no need to run this thing over again, bringing in experts.’ Instead Mr Lynch is firm that a new accommodation block close to Crumlin hospital would be a perfect solution: it could be built quickly at fraction of the cost of the current proposal, he said.

‘All they need in Crumlin is decent accommodation. They have the theatres, they have the surgeons, they have the knowledge, the knowhow.

They have everything.

‘All they need is 300 beds near them to accommodate the sick kids and then they will be able to come from all over the country,’ he said.

Mr Lynch said he was appalled that more than a decade after the new children’s hospital was first mooted, the matter was still being mishandled by politicians and vested interests
ENDS

The story below was first published in the Irish Mail on Sunday on 04/03/2012

Revealed: Mater links of man in charge of NCH review
Doc advising on child hospital was Temple St boss favoured by Harney

By: Michael O’Farrell

THE new head of the Government task force advising on plans for a national children’s hospital is a medical professional with close links to the Mater Hospital.

Dr Frank Dolphin, the millionaire businessman who was appointed chair of the new review group last week, also has strong links with two of the most ardent supporters of the Mater Hospital site – Temple Street Children’s Hospital and former health minister Mary Harney.

Dr Dolphin was appointed as chairman of the HSE by Miss Harney, a post he held until August 2010. He was also chairman of Temple Street Children’s Hospital from 2008-10.

Last week An Bord Pleanála sensationappointed ally rejected the Governmentfavoured plan for the €650m project at the Mater site, leading to a scramble by health minister Dr James Reilly to announce the review group – with Dr Dolphin as its chairman. Dr Reilly said his primary concern was to select the best environment for children to get the best treatment.

‘Whether that happens at the Mater site or elsewhere is open to the review group to determine,’ he said as he insisted that the Government, while preferring the Mater site, was not ‘wedded’ to it.

But the Government’s choice of Dr Dolphin gives precisely the opposite impression.

Until August 2010 when he was as chairman of the HSE Dr Dolphin was a member of the board of governors of the Mater. He was also chairman of Temple Street Children’s Hospital, described this week as ‘long-term cheerleaders’ for the Mater site by former Fine Gael TD Ivan Yates.

Dr Dolphin, a chartered psychologist, was first appointed to the Temple Street board in April 2008, but gave up this position upon his appointment to the HSE. Temple Street was to be amalgamated with the new children’s hospital.

Because of these associations he is perceived to be closely affiliated to the Mater site, to the likely detriment of other possible locations. Moreover he is perceived to be close to Mary Harney, who championed the Mater site as health minister. She appointed Dr Dolphin, who owns call centre firm Rigney Dolphin, to the HSE.

Dr Dolphin’s appointment to the new review group was greeted with concern by the National Children’s Hospital Alliance.

‘Given the legacy of mistrust generated over the past five years it is essential that not even a perception of possible bias is allowable in this appointment, particularly as the minister has not ruled out the possibility of the children’s hospital being built at the Mater,’ said a NCHA spokesman.

‘NCHA believes that it is in the interests of the children of Ireland that Dr Dolphin graciously decline the post.’ But this week the Government reaffirmed the choice of Mr Dolphin, although the announcement of his terms of reference and fellow task force members will not be made until next week.

The review group will be given four weeks to complete its work and report back to the Cabinet.

In theory the rejection of the Mater site means that alternative locations are back on the agenda.

Possible alternatives include colocation at Tallaght Hospital or James Connolly in Blanchardstown, a new standalone paediatric centre at Newlands Cross, or the redevelopment of either St James’ or Crumlin Children’s Hospital.

Speaking to the MoS last week Philip Lynch – the man formerly charged with choosing the site – pleaded with the Government to abandon the Mater plan.

Mr Lynch resigned as Chairman of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board in October 2010 claiming the preferred location, in the heart of Bertie Ahern’s constituency, was being forced through for political reasons.

‘It’s a shame for the people of Ireland. It’s absolute and total blackguarding what’s gone on’, he said. ‘No hospital is going to be built because I don’t believe the money is there to do it and this can is being kicked around this street for the last 15 years. Even in the boom it didn’t get done.’ On Friday a new proposal, to build the new hospital on a site near the Coombe, was sent to Dr Reilly.

The proposal, prepared by The Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital, showed how a seven-storey building could be accommodated on the site with parking for 1,000 cars, and that it could be built within 3½ years.

It came as yesterday two leading experts on paediatric care poured scorn on the notion of locating the hospital on the Mater site.

In a letter to The Irish Times, paediatrician Prof Alf Nicholson and neo-natologist Dr John Murphy wrote: ‘The best care for sick children has come into conflict with the finer points of planning.’ They add: ‘A single tertiary pediatric hospital is the only solution; it should be co-located with an adult teaching hospital and adjacent to a maternity hospital – research and education are not optional extras.’ A spokesman for Dr Reilly said Dr Dolphin is an ‘ideal choice’.

‘With his experience, both the area of paediatric hospitals and of the wider health services, he is an ideal choice,’ he said.

‘It is important for people to remember that Minister Reilly has asked Dr Dolphin to chair an expert group to review the decision of An Bord Pleanála. He has not been asked to chair a group to decide the location of the Children’s Hospital.
ENDS