Republican News · Thursday 25 September 2002

Worry for future of Temple Street

Sinn Féin Councillor Nicky Kehoe has called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to come clean on the future of Temple Street Hospital. He was speaking following a recent meeting with paediatric surgeons, who voiced their concern at the threatened closure of specialist surgery services within the hospital.

The hospital's paediatric unit, the only one on the northside of Dublin, is to be moved to Crumlin Hospital, which already houses a children's unit. Temple Street will have many of its assets stripped in preparation for the move, which will take place over the next two years. Temple Street provides a very large service, both locally and nationally. In 2001 there were 10,930 inpatient admissions, 48,552 casualty attendance, 500 intensive care unit cases, 5,ooo operations, 48,000 radiology investigations and 46,625 outpatients.

These figures are set to rise further, in the 2002 Census the population of Fingal has risen 17%.

Councillor Kehoe said: "I was recently called upon to have a meeting with the paediatric surgeons at Temple Street Hospital and they are gravely concerned at the threatened closure of a major part of its specialist surgery services. The erosion of such services would have a major impact on the hospital and would undermine its ability to provide surgical care to small infants in the long term. The downgrading of services would also have a very negative impact on the proposed new state of the art hospital on the Mater site."

It is difficult to understand why this downgrading of Temple Street is being imposed at a time when its move to a 'state of the art' children's hospital on the Mater campus is being planned.

Councillor Kehoe says that the people of the northside want Temple Street to be left in its present state. "I see this from a local level particularly," he says. "Temple Street is an institution on the northside. The people on this side of the city have been bringing their children here for years, and they want to be able to continue doing that. If Temple Street begins losing its units, only the shell of the hospital will be left."

Kehoe has put a motion to the city council concerning the closure. His constituency colleague, Councillor Christy Burke, has brought up the issue on the Health Board and Sinn Féin TD Seán Crowe will be raising the issue at Leinster House level.

Kehoe added: "It is abundantly clear that the government misled the electorate in the general election and their much hyped health strategy is now in tatters. Throughout the summer, we have seen daily announcements of cutbacks and an increase in the cost of medicines, as well as higher fees for hospital visits and for VHI."

"It is time for the Taoiseach to come clean on what lies in store for Temple Street hospital and to honour his election pledges."