James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My Department, in conjunction with the HSE, is preparing a new national maternity strategy, which will provide the strategic direction for the optimal development of safe and high quality maternity services. The commitment to develop a maternity strategy arises from my acceptance of the recommendations of the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, report into the death of Savita Halappanavar. That report recommended that a strategy be developed to implement standard and consistent models for the delivery of a national maternity service that reflected best available evidence to ensure that all pregnant women had appropriate and informed choices and access to the right level of care and support. The strategy will incorporate a review and evaluation of our current maternity services. This will give us the opportunity to take stock of the services that are provided to women and their babies in our 19 maternity hospitals and identify how we can further improve the quality and safety of the care we provide. It is intended to finalise the new strategy by the end of this year.

See this speech in context