National Children’s Hospital won’t be accepting patients until 2026

The National Children's Hospital may not 'fully' open until 2026

The Minister for Health has been told that the hospital may not be fully functioning until the spring of 2026.

It is expected to open in June 2025 after facing multiple delays.

Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill has been told that the hospital remains on track to meet the June 2025 completion date.

A briefing note from the minister's department confirmed that migration to the new hospital cannot take place in winter due to "clinical risks".

The briefing states: "CHI has advised that migration cannot be undertaken in winter due to clinical risks."

This means it likely won't be fully open until the spring of 2026.

Once the construction phase is complete, an onsite operational commissioning phase will take place. However, the Department of Health warned that this will be a complex phase.

The Independent reports: "The NPHDB is also engaging with the contractor, HSE and Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) to secure additional early access for CHI of up to three months prior to substantial completion.

"Once substantial completion is achieved the hospital will be handed over to Children’s Health Ireland for a post-substantial completion operational commissioning period of at least six months."

The hospital was due to be completed in 2020 but faced major delays due to the pandemic and budget issues.

The original agreed-upon cost of the National Children’s Hospital was around €980 million in 2017.

However, it is now believed the state-of-the-art children's hospital will cost over €2 billion.