The new National Children’s Hospital will not be complete until 2024 at the earliest

As part of the massive building's design, more than 600 windows have already been installed, something which will provide patients, their families and also staff at the hospital with beautiful views of either a garden or the hills of Dublin. “There is quite a bit of research on green space and gardens and the benefits they have for children’s health,” explains NPHDB medical director and paediatrician at Tallaght University Hospital, Dr Emma Curtis.

Curtis admits she is excited about the benefits for children.

“I’m thrilled. It’s really encouraging to see the progress being made," Curtis said.

"I’m sure people were getting despondent. There were people thinking their child would attend, but won’t now, because they have grown up.  But it’s a huge project, and it takes time. We are soon going to be here working.”

The new hospital will have amenities like beds for families, with sofa beds also being available in patient rooms. As well as this, there will be an underground car park which will be reserved almost exclusively for families, a 250m corridor connects the operating theatres, including a hybrid theatre for neurosurgery linked to an MRI suite.

A helicopter pad is also nearing completion, and the state of the art hospital will create electronic health records, the first in Ireland for children’s care.

Dr Curtis and other team members visited hospitals internationally to get inspiration for Ireland's new National Children's Hospital, and she described the new facility as “world-class”.

About 2,500 staff from Tallaght, Temple St, and Crumlin hospitals will work at the new hospital and at two satellite clinics in Blanchardstown and Tallaght.

This means instant access for families to 39 medical specialities including second opinions, and children will particularly benefit from four acres of gardens, with a separate space for immuno-compromised children.