A tender package for the main works contractor for the development. and relocation of the new National Maternity Hospital to Elm Park, Dublin, has been sought by the HSE.
Following Government approval to proceed to tender in July 2023, the first step of the tender process began in September 2023 and the second step of the process provides that prequalified tendering contractors will prepare and submit their tender offers for the construction of the new hospital.
Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly said, “I welcome this major step in the relocation of the new National Maternity Hospital. This hospital will be the greatest infrastructural investment by the State in the area of women’s health to-date, providing state of the art facilities for women, girls, and babies for generations to come.
“The relocation of the NMH will support the delivery of the National Maternity Strategy as we move towards the co-location of maternity and adult services, in line with international best practice, and to ensure the health and welfare of mothers and their babies, and better women’s health services.”
TheMaster of The National Maternity Hospital, Professor Shane Higgins said, “The National Maternity Hospital welcomes this significant milestone and looks forward to working with all relevant parties to progress this crucial development.”
The relocated NMH will be a new seven-storey building, over 50,000m2, to be constructed at the eastern side of the existing St Vincent’s University Hospital.
Enabling works to accommodate the main construction works are underway at Elm Park and will continue in parallel to the tender for the main development works. This will allow the new NMH to be constructed as a single-phase development.
The Department of Health said the HSE had had significant engagement with all relevant stakeholders to ensure that contractual arrangements for the new NMH project would protect the State’s interests and that key learnings from the New Children’s Hospital had been appropriately captured and addressed.
The new NMH will provide:
- 244 beds, an increase of 80 beds on Holles Street, all to be single occupancy rooms.
- Five operating theatres (increase from the three functioning theatres at Holles Street).
- Direct access from the NMH theatres & High Dependency Unit to the existing Saint Vincent’s University Hospital theatres & Intensive Care Units.
Recognising changes in delivery of maternity, neonatal and women’s health services over coming years, flexibility has been built into design and clinical operations of new NMH:
- Offering increasing patient privacy and dignity
- Increased demand for colposcopy services
- Ambulatory Gynaecology Clinics
- Space for the regional fertility hub
- Assisted Reproduction Therapy (ART) Laboratory
- Complex Menopause Clinic
- Pain Clinic
- Perinatal Genetics service
- Termination of Pregnancy service
- Inclusion of embedded ‘soft spots’ to allow for future expansion of key clinical areas
In terms of training and education for health care professionals, there will be seminar rooms on every floor, a lecture theatre, library, and clinical skills laboratory.
