Dr. Colm Henry:

We want to restore to the pre-pandemic levels but, as I said earlier, we are mindful of the particular risks in pregnancy and the evolving data, including that from the UK obstetric surveillance system, in March 2021, which looked at stillbirth rates. The measures were brought in with significant reluctance during a time when there were high levels of community transmission and multiple outbreaks in hospitals. We are in the happy position where we can release those incrementally.

Senator Hoey referred to the privacy issue. Generally speaking, when women were in labour pre-pandemic, they had partners with them on the labour ward, but it was not always the case for a woman who may have been in suspect early-labour and was returned to a multi-occupancy antenatal ward, to have their partners in there, to give respect to other patients on the ward. There is some degree of misunderstanding of what prevailed before the pandemic began. As I said earlier, in response to one of the Senator's colleagues' question, we are now moving beyond those four areas. We are trying to restore attendances to the areas of greatest need and that includes, pregnancy assessment units, high-risk pregnancy routine visits, and emergency presentation of late gestation. We have changed the visiting guidelines this week accordingly and they will be implemented in the coming weeks.