Tag Archives: maternity

MAYOR of Clare Mary Howard has said there is an “appalling situation” in the country’s maternity hospitals, with women being left without support due to Covid-19 restrictions. The Ennis woman said that 150 are born each day, and with the mothers not allowed have fathers present except for the latter stages and for a short time after the birth, she said it is often “a really, really lonesome experience”, which can be especially difficult if the birth has been difficult. She said that the staff in the hospitals are “up to their tonsils” and can’t pick up the slack left by the absence of fathers. Councillor Howard said that she had spoken to a number of new mothers, and was told that glasses of water are filled for them at 7.30am and only refilled at 7.30m even though the woman may be unable to get anything for herself in between. Another woman had been in soiled clothes for two days, …

THE Project Ireland 2040 plan gives a commitment to delivering two key capital projects, according to UL Hospitals’ Group. In fact, the plan is described as a “signal day” by the group for all its staff and Mid-West patients. The group said it was delighted to see the commitment to the development of the 96-bed block at UHL and the relocation of University Maternity Hospital to the UHL site formalised in the plan. “The most visible impact will be to greatly improve the experience of patients in reducing the numbers waiting for a bed. It will also allow the new €24 million Emergency Department, Acute Medical Assessment Unit, Surgical Assessment Unit and Surgical Day Ward to function in the manner in which they are designed. “Much progress has already been made in terms of the planning and design of this 96-bed project and this will ensure delays are kept to a minimum once the funding plan and construction schedule have …

A NEW research paper published by the Irish Medical Journal, which was co-written by a South East Clare obstetrician, has revealed pregnant women living outside of Dublin only have a 38% chance of being offered an anomaly scan in the public system. Parteen native Dr Karen McNamara is a specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology and a clinical research fellow in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at University College Cork. She was involved in compiling the recently-published research, Maternity Ultrasound in the Republic of Ireland 2016; A Review. Dr McNamara noted the number of women being offered an anomaly scan outside of Dublin stands at 38%, a number that has remained largely unchanged despite it being highlighted in previous pieces of research in 2007, 2012 and 2013. She said the review she conducted with Dr Deirdre Hayes Ryan, Dr Noirin Russell, Professor Louise Kenny and Dr Keelin O’Donoghue, showed an inequity in the service that pregnant women are receiving; most notably, that 100% of public patients are being offered the anomaly scan if they attend maternity services in Dublin but only 38% are offered it elsewhere in the country. …

The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) has launched an eight-week public consultation on draft National Standards for Safer Better Maternity Services. This represents the first service-specific standards developed by HIQA. Standards for maternity services aim to improve the quality and safety of care received from maternity services. HIQA is now looking for feedback from the public on the draft standards. Chief executive of HIQA, Phelim Quinn said, “This marks a new beginning for anyone who uses maternity services. These draft standards have been developed to improve the standard of maternity services offered to women nationally. For most women pregnancy and childbirth are safe and are associated with a happy outcome. Unfortunately, this is not the reality for all and at times this has been due to sub-standard care. Our standards will work to ensure that maternity services are responsive to the needs of all women and their families, and that maternity service providers put women’s needs and preferences at the …