Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their detailed presentations. I will touch on a number of issues. The witnesses have referred to an additional number of midwives and I am not sure whether that takes into account the number of people who retire every year. One major concern I have is lack of support for nursing staff, consultants and junior doctors when there is an adverse event. It is not clear whether in all of the 19 units there is adequate support for the nursing staff when that occurs. The witnesses might be able to give us some information on the level of nursing staff who are dropping out of the system because of the pressures and stress they are under in trying to do their job. Professor Kenny referred to the adverse media reporting on some incidents, which is not helpful to staff.

Can the witnesses give us some indication of the number of people who are moving away from the service into other areas of nursing? What recruitment numbers should we be targeting every year, taking into account retirements and the reasons people are leaving? Is there adequate support for nursing staff where adverse events occur?

The report into Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise recommended the appointment of directors of midwifery. My understanding is that eight positions remained unfilled. That may have changed in the past two or three months, but I understand eight out of 19 positions have not been fully filled or people are only in place in a temporary capacity. The bar may have been set extremely high. It might be difficult to get candidates in some of the units because the qualifying criteria have been set so high. I am keen to hear the views of the witnesses.

Professor Boylan discussed the recruitment of consultants. A report was published in 2003 - I keep referring to it - setting out how by 2012 we should have 180 consultants. At the time we had approximately 100 consultants. I understand that at the moment we have a whole time equivalent of 130 staff. I may be wrong about the figure but that is the most recent information I have. When I raised the question with the HSE recently, I got the impression the executive was only planning to recruit an extra six or eight consultants in the coming 12 months. Should we set a clear timeframe for the recruitment of the additional consultants? In 2003, we set a timeframe such that by 2012 we would have 180 recruited. We are nowhere near the 180 figure. I am unsure what the birth rate was in 2003 but it had gone up dramatically by 2008 without a significant increase in staffing levels of nursing and medical people. Yet, they were required to provide the same level of service. In fairness, they did a good job despite all the pressures. Let us suppose we were to set a timeline for 100 new consultants. What timeframe should set to get the candidates in place and to ensure the necessary back-up support for them? These are relevant issues in the development of maternity services.