The terms of reference of an independent review of the plan to build a new National Children's Hospital on the site of the Mater Hospital in Dublin have been announced.
A financial analysis will be conducted by European Health Property Network which will help inform a clinical review, to be conducted by four international experts who are all CEOs of children's hospitals.
Three of the CEOs are paediatric clinicians.
The review will verify the cost of building, equipping and running the hospital on the proposed Mater site and will examine if the hospital could be constructed to the same specification on an alternative site.
The review team is drawn from the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions and the Children's Hospitals International Executive Forum.
Announcing the review, the Health Minister, Dr James Reilly said the Government was committed to building a new children's hospital in the most cost-effective way and with the maximum benefit for patients.
Minister Reilly said the panel is coming to the task with no previous involvement.
The review is to be completed within four weeks and is being conducted at no cost.
Louis Roden, the chairman of the New Crumlin Hospital Group, has said children are not interested in reviews and want the promised new national facility built by the Government as soon as possible.
He said that if the hospital is not built on the planned site near the Mater Hospital, there will be a further delay of between five and ten years beyond the planned 2015 opening date, as the project will have to start from scratch.
He expressed concern that no time scale for the opening of the hospital was contained in the terms of reference for the independent review.
Meanwhile, plans for the new hospital suffered a fresh setback, with the departure of the project’s chief executive Eilish Hardiman.
Ms Hardiman has been appointed as the new chief executive of Tallaght Hospital in Dublin.
Staff at the hospital were notified of the development by email yesterday and the appointment is subject to the approval of the Tallaght Hospital Board.
The news follows the resignation of two chairman of the development board in the past six months and with nearly €30m already having been spent on the project.
Philip Lynch quit last October after clashing with former Health Minister Mary Harney after expressing concerns about the Mater location.
Meanwhile, John Gallagher resigned recently after a meeting with Dr Reilly having expressed concern over the decision to review the planned location.
The new €650m National Children's Hospital is due to open at the Mater site in 2015.
Ms Hardiman is due to take up her new post in August.
Earlier, Fianna Fáil's spokesperson on health Billy Kelleher, had said that the most important issue is to ensure that a National Paediatric Hospital is built.
Billy Kelleher said he believed it could be done given the dramatic reduction in construction costs.
Deputy Kelleher said he was concerned that the Health Minister's review could lead to a delay in the project and said that the minister needed to outline the time-frame by which a decision will be taken, after the review is completed.
