Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is intended to produce a strategy on maternity services to cover all the maternity units and hospitals in the country. There is no embargo on recruitment of staff considered to be necessary to the provision of a safe service. This includes midwives. We are taking a holistic approach to maternity services. I wish to reassure people that apart from recent events, our maternity services are very safe. Not alone are they safe, but they give a degree of confidence to every mother who uses those services. We must learn from the recent events and ensure that they will never be repeated. The Department of Health now has a post of director of nursing who will undertake the survey in order to produce a strategy. The grouping of hospitals will ensure a safer delivery of care across a range of issues. The grouping of hospitals is central to services in the greater Cork area. We must learn from the awful events in the recent past which left mothers and families bereft to ensure that there will never be a repetition. That learning has begun already.

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