This new €4.6 million state-of-the-art Paediatric Outpatient and Emergency Care Unit, CHI at Tallaght University Hospital, opened for services in the middle of November.
The Department of Health said that since services in a similar unit, CHI at Connolly opened in summer 2019, it had contributed to a 65% reduction in waiting lists for general paediatric services. Up to early September this year, 18,078 outpatient appointments had taken place there and more than 16,807 children and young people treated in the Urgent Care Centre.
CHI, Tallaght is located near the main entrance to Tallaght University Hospital. It is a new three-storey building and includes the re-purposing of a ground floor area of the existing Tallaght hospital facility. The concept was designed to maximise the use of the existing infrastructure services like water, electrical power, waste disposal, communications, medical gases, and building safety systems. Work on expanding children’s services in CHI at Tallaght also included a significant investment in Tallaght University Hospital including the delivery of a new changing and administration block, a new crèche and the upgrade of roads and pavements, car park and electrical infrastructure.
CHI at Tallaght accommodates the former children’s emergency care unit – re-located from the adult hospital – and expanded outpatient services to children and young people from Dublin South West, South City and the surrounding areas of Kildare and Wicklow. When fully operational, it is expected it will provide 17,000 additional outpatient appointments (General Paediatrics, Specialist and Orthopaedic clinics) and will see more than 25,000 Emergency care attendances annually.
This new facility is purpose built for children and families and delivers 24-hour Emergency Care, as well as Monday to Friday Outpatients, Radiology, Medical Forensic Examination and Child Sexual Assault Counselling and Therapy services. There is also capacity to deliver short-stay care in that unit so that children can stay, have full consultant assessments and treatment and be discharged home without needing a 24-hour admission.
Eilísh Hardiman, Chief Executive, Children’s Health Ireland said: “Children’s healthcare is undergoing a significant transformation in Ireland. With unparalleled investment in a new model of care, digital infrastructure and the building of the new children’s hospital and the two bespoke facilities at Connolly Hospital and soon at Tallaght, we are delivering on CHI’s mission for an integrated network of services to improve health outcomes for the patients and families we serve.
“This new facility together with our existing services at Tallaght, Crumlin, Temple Street and Connolly and the new children’s hospital will transform how acute paediatric healthcare is delivered to sick children in Ireland and how local secondary paediatric care is delivered in the greater Dublin area – delivering better healthcare outcomes as well as better experiences for children, families and staff in a modern fit-for-purpose facility that they all deserve now and for future generations to come”.
