HSE duo voice ‘ethics’ concern over maternity hospital group

THE Government should own the land housing the new National Maternity Hospital (NMH), two dissenting HSE board members said last night.

They also said the ability of the St Vincent’s Healthcare Group (SVHG) to appoint directors to the board of the National Maternity Hospital raises concerns about the ‘culture, values and ethics’ of the hospital.

Professor Deirdre Madden and Dr Sarah McLoughlin dissented from a HSE board decision in March to approve the legal documents relating to the hospital’s relocation to the St Vincent’s campus.

They said last night arguments suggesting SVHG must retain it ‘are unsatisfactory’.

Concerns have been raised about the ownership structure of the National Maternity Hospital at the Elm Park site.

The State will own the building and the land will be owned by a legal entity – SVHG.

The Government has stressed that all services, including abortion, will be carried out in the hospital.

They have also said that the 299 year lease, which will cost €10 a year, amounts to ‘effective’ ownership.

In a letter sent to the Health Committee yesterday, seen by the Irish Daily Mail, Professor Madden and Dr McLoughlin reiterated their concerns about the ownership and governance structures at the new hospital. They expressed reservations about SVHG appointing three directors to the board of the new National Maternity Hospital.

The letter stated: ‘Although the agreed clause in relation to services will facilitate the provision of all legally permissible services at the new NMH, boards also influence the culture, values, and ethics of the entity they govern.

‘This gives rise to legitimate concerns for us about the potential influence of ethos.’

Professor Madden and Dr McLoughlin also said they ‘believe that in the interests of public trust and confidence in this new project there should be absolute clarity on the separation of Church and State’.

They added: ‘This would be better achieved if the State owned the land on which the hospital was built.

‘The statement from SVHG that they must retain ownership for the delivery of integrated patient care is unsatisfactory and runs contrary to the argument the location of the underlying freehold ownership has no bearing on the governance/operation of the hospital.’

They concluded their letter by telling Health Committee members they will not make any further public comment as it is ‘now a matter for Government’.

Discussions about the National Maternity Hospital could now rumble into Friday before the matter goes back to Cabinet next Tuesday.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly met with the Fine Gael parliamentary party yesterday evening in an attempt to quell fears about the relocation.

The exchange was described by attendees as ‘helpful, useful and constructive’.

Several TDs told the Mail that Minister Donnelly, legal advisors and obstetricians answered a range of questions from members.

One TD said last night: ‘I’m much more comfortable.’

One source said that they believed many people’s fears about ownership and governance had been allayed following the meeting.

However, there was a request from several Fine Gael TDs for a written list of which procedures will be carried out at the new hospital.

Support for the hospital was reiterated by Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar who stated yesterday that Holles Street was ‘woefully out of date’.

The Tánaiste told RTÉ’s News at One that he had read the legal documents relating to the ownership and was ‘confident that the National Maternity Hospital will be clinically independent, that all legal procedures, terminations, sterilisations, IVF and gender reassignment will happen.’

‘State should own land’ ‘Clinically independent’