By email to [email protected]

15th January, 2015

Mr. Billy Kelleher, T.D. Dáil Éireann, DUBLIN 2.

Re/ Parliamentary Question No 1073/16 “To ask the Minister for Health his response to the master of the Rotunda Hospital setting down conditions for its relocation to Connolly Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter”

and

Parliamentary Question No 1076/16 “To ask the Minister for Health if the relocation of the Rotunda Hospital is conditional on the upgrading of services at Connolly Hospital akin to what is currently available at the Mater Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter”

Dear Deputy Kelleher,

The Health Service Executive has been requested to reply directly to you in the context of the above Parliamentary Questions which you submitted to the Minister for Health for response.

The Rotunda Hospital is a voluntary hospital with its own board of Governors providing maternity, neonatology and gynaecology services to women and families. It is part of the RCSI Hospitals Group and the Group has agreed that it is the clinical leader in providing maternity and gynaecology services across the various hospitals within the Group, particularly in Drogheda, Cavan and Monaghan.

The Department of Health recommended that the best site for co-location of The Rotunda Hospital with an adult hospital, in line with best international practice, is at the campus of the Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown. The campus has both greenfield and brownfield space to allow the development of a number of new healthcare buildings and facilities and the redevelopment of some existing services. Those form part of the overall development plan for the Connolly campus.

In any proposed re-location of The Rotunda Hospital, a number of conditions and criteria have been agreed in order to meet best-practice medical and clinical standards, including specialist medical services. These include adding further facilities and resources at the Connolly Hospital campus to meet the needs and requirements of a large-scale maternity hospital that will be handling up to 12,000 births each year.

I trust this information is of assistance.

Kind regards.

Yours sincerely,

______Sheila McGuinness Group Director of Nursing & Midwifery RCSI Hospitals Group [email protected]