The long-awaited national children’s hospital has already been delayed 19 times.

Derek O’Reilly, INMO industrial relations officer for Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) hospitals, said nurses have shared concerns with him about the new site.

“There’s no staff canteen,” he said. “What they have is a place which will hold about 50 people, and you can bring in food and microwave it or have your own lunch.”

It is believed there will be up to 45 of these rooms, but he said it is “unusual” for a hospital not to offer a full canteen. A public restaurant will operate with extended hours, and Mr O’Reilly understands this will be subsidised for staff.

The first design for the hospital in 2018 only offered a shared public restaurant.

A cold-food canteen is expected to be available for staff, many of whom work 13-hour shifts.

Staff looking for work elsewhere  

Transport and parking continue to be issues. Mr O’Reilly said he recently met a senior nurse who has already applied for another job to avoid cross-city stresses.

“In theory, people are excited to move, but there’s going to be about 330 staff parking spaces, and we have 5,000 staff. We have 1,900 nursing staff,” he said.

He acknowledged that shift patterns change, but said:

“There’s no infrastructure plan to get them to work, no shuttles planned. 

We’ve been told by CHI it’s not their job to facilitate people getting to work.

The “biggest concern” is timing, especially getting the Luas or buses for early or late weekend shifts.

Temporary shuttle bus

It is understood that plans include a shuttle bus only for the first 12 weeks after opening, from CHI hospitals. Parking is expected to include a priority system.

The union is meeting regularly with CHI management on all these issues, he said.

“The recruitment needs to start now. They’ve done some recruitment, but not enough. They want to open a neonatal intensive care unit, and that needs to be staffed, and the staffing plan only allows for recruitment once the new hospital opens.”

A CHI spokeswoman acknowledged the INMO concerns and said: “All staff concerns are being addressed as they come up in real time in regular engagement sessions across hospital sites.”

Minister meets INMO officials 

Ms Carroll MacNeill met INMO officials during its annual conference in Dundalk.

She said afterwards: “We will see a substantial completion of the hospital when BAM finish the ‘hot block’,and gives us the ‘hot block’ and enables us to get into it.

“I’m so reluctant to give dates, not because they’re not floated, but because I don’t want to give a date and stand over it where I haven’t seen evidence of that being delivered in the past.”

The ‘hot block’ houses key units including theatres, emergency care, and laboratories.

Ms Carroll MacNeill has recently visited the site and said: “Where we have access, it is at that clinical standard. It is at that contractual standard, and it’s pretty marvellous where we have it.”

Lead contractor BAM has repeatedly disputed that delays are its responsibility, and it is understood that it has offered a completion date.

It previously said “misleading data” is being used around how many rooms are complete or incomplete.

It has described checks and ongoing works as “the normal snagging and commissioning phase required on projects of this scale and complexity”.

• Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent