New CHI facility opens at Tallaght University Hospital

The new paediatric outpatient and emergency care unit (ECU) at Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) in Tallaght University Hospital has opened. When fully operational, the facility is expected to deal with up to 17,000 outpatient appointments and 30,000 emergency care attendances every year.

The 4,600m² facility was completed by the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board on September 9 and handed over to CHI on September 15. CHI has spent the intervening period equipping the building and familiarising staff who will work there.

The new three-storey CHI centre is located next to the main entrance to Tallaght University Hospital. It includes:

-A new emergency care unit with two triage rooms, a resuscitation room, a designated area for minor injuries and procedures and 16 single examination and treatment rooms. The unit will provide 24-hour emergency care

-A new paediatric outpatient department with 13 consultation rooms for weekday appointments

-A new radiology unit for x-rays and ultrasound examinations

-A new medical forensic examination suite and clinic for the CHI’s child sexual assault counselling and therapy services.

Within the ECU, there is capacity to deliver short-stay care so that children can have full consultant assessments and treatment and be discharged home without needing a 24-hour admission. This model already exists in CHI at Tallaght and has worked well.

These expanded services are in addition to the current inpatient, day case, theatre and outpatient services in CHI at Tallaght, which will remain in place until the new children’s hospital at St James’s Hospital opens.

The opening of this new facility follows the successful opening of a similar facility in CHI at Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown in July 2019. Since services in CHI at Connolly opened, it has contributed to a 65% reduction in waiting lists for general paediatric services.

To date over 18,000 outpatient appointments have taken place there and more than 16,000 children and young people have been treated in its five-day urgent care centre.

CHI chief executive, Eilísh Hardiman, described the opening of the new facility in Tallaght as a “good day for children and their parents, CHI and its staff and for the country”.

“It marks another milestone in our journey towards the opening of the new children’s hospital. It is a real example of implementing the Model of Care for Paediatrics by keeping services local and convenient, while consolidating specialist services in the new hospital.

“This investment is helping to deliver 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,” she said.