Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for missing the first few minutes of the meeting but I did get a chance to read the submissions. Recruitment and retention is mentioned by both groups. There is a deficiency in medical staff numbers. Dr. Boylan referred to consultant jobs being so unattractive that no applications are received. Ms Leahy referred to the recruitment and retention crisis. Before we move on to start talking about anything else it might be possible for us to do we need to generally accept that none of that will be done unless we have the men and women who are capable, trained and willing to work in our services to deliver it. I am interested to hear the views of witnesses on what can actually be done. We know that pay is a major issue. I do not think that is lost on anyone here but we also know that there are other elements and it might be possible to expand on that in terms of professional development and making the health service a more attractive place to work.

I direct my question about the 20-week anomaly scan to Mr. McGrane. I am genuinely sick of the sound of my own voice talking about the issue at this stage as I have raised it so many times. Whatever way one wants to dress it up, there is a postcode lottery in place at the moment. If one happens to be pregnant in certain parts of the country one gets a hugely different service. That is not about the quality of care, because the people who deliver the service are working extremely hard, but the system is working against those people and it is working against pregnant women. I have asked the Taoiseach about it and the Minister for Health and with respect, they occasionally defer to Mr. McGrane although he is not there when they do it and I have an opportunity now to ask him. Could he give us an idea when pregnant women in this State can expect as a matter of course – in the way they do in other countries – to have access to a 20-week scan?

Could Dr. Boylan and perhaps Ms Leahy explain something to us? It has been said to me a number of times when I have asked the question that the scans are provided where they are clinically indicated but the professionals tell me that it is a screening scan so therefore it cannot be clinically indicated without a scan. To me, that seems like a bit of a merry-go-round.

Dr. Boylan referred to benign gynaecology not being mentioned in the maternity strategy. Could he elaborate on that for us because we have heard evidence about the waiting lists for gynaecological procedures and how they operate and the pain and distress women are in while they are waiting? Could he elaborate on why he thinks it is not there and perhaps Mr. McGrane could advise us why it is not in the strategy?

I echo the point previously made that the strategy is now two years old. I know that some of the implementation plan was not launched at the same time as the strategy but there you go. We have lost time on it and, again, it is not about having a wonderful document because clearly we have a wonderful document but it is about knowing when we are going to hit those milestones and if we can, if possible, make up the time lost.