Tag Archives: University Maternity Hospital Limerick

A psychiatric nurse, who works in Ennis Hospital, has issued an appeal to support a regional neo-natal unit that provided vital care to his baby daughter whose chances of survival after birth were rated at just 50%. Mark Blennerhassett has worked as a psychiatric nurse in the Acute Psychiatric Unit at Ennis Hospital for the last six years. Now living in Lisnagry, the South Kerry native has set up a GoFundMe page with his wife, Lisa, which has already raised almost €8,000 for the neo-natal unit at University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL). Weighing in at a tiny 506grams or 1lb2oz at 26 weeks gestation on May 28 last, Ella Blennerhassett was the smallest baby born at UHML last year. She showed great courage to make it to her first birthday as her parents nearly lost Ella when she was 16 days old. The couple got a phone call at 5:30am from the neo natal team urging them to come in …

The celebration of International Day of the Midwife at University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) focused on how local midwives have risen to the extraordinary challenge of Covid-19 to provide safe care to the women and infants of the Mid-West. The event—with its 2020 theme of ‘Midwives with Women: Celebrate, Demonstrate, Mobilise, Unite—Our Time Is Now’— underlined how midwives in the Mid-West along with their colleagues across the country and around the world have undergone upskilling and retraining to developed safe pathways of care in the fight to protect women and babies during the pandemic. While maternity care in the Mid-West has faced unprecedented challenges, and there will be none of the celebratory events traditionally held to mark the occasion, the International Day of the Midwife served as a prominent reminder of the importance of midwifery, and the invaluable care that midwives provide. Special birth certificates were given to the mothers of all babies born in University Maternity Hospital Limerick on …

University Maternity Hospital Limerick holds its annual remembrance service at the Church of the Holy Rosary, Ennis Road, Limerick this Sundayat 3pm. Parents who have experienced the death of their baby or pregnancy loss at any stage, together with their family, friends and hospital staff, are all welcome to attend this service. This is an annual event organised by the Counselling Department and Midwifery staff at UMHL. And people are very welcome to stay after the service for a chat and a cup of tea. Marie Hunt, bereavement counselling midwife, UMHL, said: “The death of a baby is recognised as one of the most difficult bereavements in life and something which has a lifelong impact on parents and families”. “The service is an annual event which aims to acknowledge the pregnancies that were lost and the lives of babies who have died through ectopic pregnancy, miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death. We welcome parents and families whose babies may have died …

NEW research spearheaded at University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) has shown a reliable way to predict which first-time mothers are likely to need a Caesarean section when in labour. The research paper, The Genesis Study, was the only one from outside North America among the first 30 selected, from some 1,600 submissions from all over the world, for oral presentation at the recent annual meeting of the Society for Foetal-Maternal Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. The Perinatal Ireland research team showed in the study, which involved some 2,500 first-time mothers, that five key patient characteristics out of 37 characteristics that were analysed can be combined in a mathematical model to predict which patients are more likely to need a Caesarean delivery in labour. These characteristics are older maternal age, shorter maternal height, higher maternal BMI, bigger foetal abdomen size and bigger foetal head size. The study was designed and proposed in 2009 by Dr Gerry Burke, clinical director for Maternal and Child Health …

The parents of a baby girl who died in her mother’s arms shortly after birth have sharply critisised the HSE for the pain and torment they have endured while waiting over six years for an apology. Caoimhe Mulcair, the daughter of Joan and John Mulcair of Westbury, Corbally, was born and died on February 11, 2009 at University Maternity Hospital Limerick. Caoimhe was conceived through IVF after her parents had been trying to start a family for a number of years. Following repeated denials of liability, the HSE made an out-of-court settlement with the Mulcairs last December and an admission of clinical negligence. However, the couple did not receive any apology until Monday, some six and a half years after their loss. A jury at an inquest into the baby’s death today returned a verdict of medical misadventure after a letter was read out on behalf of the CEO of the UL Hospitals Group, Professor Colette Cowan, who apologised for …