Carey welcomes maternity service improvements

Significant progress is being made filling vacancies in the region’s flagship maternity service, according to Deputy Joe Carey.
Dr Gerry Burke, consultant obstetrician at the Mid-Western Regional Maternity Hospital, recently caused consternation when he claimed no plans were presented by the HSE or the Department of Health to deal with the shortfall if 47 midwives were allowed to retire under the Government’s public service pension deal.
Dr Burke claimed at the time that the HSE was prepared to collude with the Department of Health in making pregnant women and newborn babies contribute to paying for the gambling losses of international banks and for the fiscal recklessness of previous governments.
His comments were criticised as “outrageous” at the time by Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
In recent weeks, Clare Fine Gael Deputy Joe Carey has held discussions with health professionals and others working in maternity services.
As someone whose family utilised the services of the hospital in recent weeks, Deputy Carey said he knows first-hand the issues involved and stressed that maternity staffing levels must be maintained, regardless of current recruitment embargoes.
“I was very concerned in relation to reports that large numbers of midwives were leaving the service in the region. In recent weeks, I have engaged with Minister James Reilly, Dr Gerry Burke and senior people in the HSE in order to ensure adequate levels of staffing and funding are maintained.
“The situation is that under the retirement scheme, a total of 16.5 WTE  (whole time equivalent) midwives will have left the service by the end of February. In addition, 31 are absent because of maternity leave (15), long-term sickness (7) and vacancies due to retirement and death (9) before the current scheme ends. The nine vacancies have accumulated since 2009, when the current moratorium was introduced. 
“I have been informed that since 2011, management has sought to reduce the clinical risks involved in staffing shortfalls by re-deploying staff members from less critical areas such as the community services to the more critical parts of the service like the labour ward and the neonatal unit,” he said.
He welcomed the fact that HSE management has put a plan in place to provide for the full replacement of the 16.5 WTEs that will leave at the end of the month. He noted that Dr Burke and others have expressed their satisfaction with this approach and that once this matter is resolved, that management will also examine solutions to the other 31 absent staff members.
Efforts are also being made to replace one of the hospital’s five obstetric ultrasonographers who retired recently. HSE management have also assured Deputy Carey that certain arrangements to improve ultrasound access for patients at Ennis clinics are being worked on.