The National Children’s Hospital is expected to open by the end of next year, according to the health minister, although that hinges on the construction company adhering to its June 2025 completion deadline, reports Breaking News.
Stephen Donnelly informed the Joint Committee on Health that the development board may commence its six-month commissioning phase as soon as contractor Bam turns over the keys to the new hospital at the beginning of next summer.
The hospital was initially supposed to be finished in 2020 and come with a €650 million budget.
The bill has ballooned to about €2.2 billion and has been postponed 14 times, four of which have happened in the past year, reports Breaking News.
Last week, Mr. Donnelly met with senior Bam officials, who he claimed were “standing over” a June 2025 completion date.
The hospital was called a “extraordinary facility” by Mr. Donnelly.
Asked when he believes the hospital can open to children, Mr Donnelly said: “I believe we need to keep a very clear focus on next year. We have been consistently told by CHI (Children’s Health Ireland) that there is a minimum six-month commissioning phase. We are looking to accelerate some of that. Nobody can give a precise deadline, but I think we have to be laser focused on the end of next year. Now the commissioning team and CHI have very strongly stated previously that a transition in winter is not what is preferred because of the pressures we’re all aware of,” reports Breaking News.
“We need to be led by the clinicians on that. It’s really a clinical view as well as an operational view. However, it is worth noting that there is a very significant increase in staffing in CHI. There is a very large number of very dedicated people working day and night to build what looks like it will be the finest children’s hospital in the world,” reports Breaking News.
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