About Us
Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) is one of seven hospital groups established as part of the acute health sector reform programme. Led by Chief Executive, Eilish Hardiman.
The Children’s Hospital Programme will successfully merge these three hospitals into a new single organisation. It needs to transform general paediatric and emergency care in the greater Dublin area with the opening of the new Paediatric Outpatients and Urgent Care Services at Connolly and Tallaght Hospitals in 2019 and 2020 respectively, implement an integrated clinical network for paediatrics across the health system, move services into the new children’s hospital by mid-2022 – the largest capital investment in the public system. In line with the Government’s Digital First Public Service ICT Strategy, the new hospital is planned as the first ‘Digital Hospital’ in the system with the implementation of an Electronic Healthcare Record, as well as, other evidence based standards, such as, 100% single rooms.
The Children’s Hospital Programme is a major programme of work led by CHI.
It’s focused on transformative service change to enhance services for children and young people, to integrate the three existing hospitals, while maintaining existing and new services, ensuring patient safety and quality until transition is complete. It will:
- Establish an integrated acute paediatric healthcare network
- Transition the three existing independently governed children’s hospitals into a new entity to be legally commenced on 1st January 2019
- Act as client for the government funded capital project to build the new children’s hospital and the two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres at Connolly and Tallaght Hospitals, and a separately funded research and innovation centre
- Act as client to a major ICT programme
- Commission, transition to and operate the new children’s hospitals and the two paediatric outpatient and urgent care centres