Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Rabbitte for this important question.

Regarding the two vacancies in the University Hospital Galway maternity service, the Saolta University Healthcare Group has advised that these vacancies have arisen due to the resignation of the director of midwifery in the autumn, and the untimely passing of the assistant director of midwifery earlier this year.

I am advised by the Saolta group that interviews have been scheduled for the assistant director of midwifery position, while the director of midwifery role is currently being advertised. I agree with the Deputy's sentiments that we would like to see these posts filled as quickly as possible. The point Deputy Rabbitte makes is important in terms of ensuring that we continue to learn from the past and keep in place the resources that are there. Pending the filling of these posts, the Saolta group director of nursing and midwifery has assumed responsibility for maternity services at the hospital. Furthermore, in line with the recommendations issued in respect of maternity services at the Midlands Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, a director of midwifery is being appointed for all maternity sites within the Saolta group. The group has advised that all applicable recommendations arising out of the recent review of maternity services in Galway have either been fully implemented or are being implemented on an ongoing basis.

The publication of Ireland’s first national maternity strategy earlier this year demonstrates a new and enhanced focus on maternity care at both policy and service delivery level. It provides a roadmap for how we can improve maternity and neonatal care in the years ahead in order to promote and assure safe, standardised and high quality care. I am confident that this new strategy is a landmark moment for maternity services and a much-needed one, and it will provide support and impetus to the development of maternity services across the country, including in Galway University Hospital.

I have described 2016 as a landmark year for maternity services. The reason I did that is that we now have the first ever national maternity strategy. It is the year in which we will see the new HIQA standards for national maternity services, which I have just signed off and which will be launched this month. It is also the year in which we have seen the publication of bereavement standards for when something sadly goes wrong in pregnancy, with input from women themselves and from midwives, and it is the year, thankfully, in which we will see the National Maternity Hospital finally move to a state-of-the-art site at St. Vincent's.

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