Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will address the issues raised. The proposed amendment being submitted has been ruled out of order by the Clerk due to it being irrelevant to this legislation. The Ceann Comhairle contacted Deputy Sherlock on this issue. The current legislation provides for women to receive medical, surgical and midwifery services in pregnancy free of charge. Therefore, where screening services are required and available, these are provided free of charge. While ultrasonography services are not available consistently throughout the country, foetal anomaly scans are available in all hospital groups. Those hospitals maternity units currently providing anomaly scans accept referrals from other maternity units if requested.

This occurs where the medical team in the referring maternity unit considers that an anomaly scan is clinically indicated. The national maternity strategy is very clear that all women must have equal access to standardised ultrasound services. Consequently, anomaly scanning is a priority issue for the newly established HSE national women and infants health programme, NWIHP. An early priority for the programme will be to develop clinical guidance regarding routine detailed scans at 20 weeks. In the meantime, the NWIHP will continue to work with the six hospital groups to assist in increasing access to anomaly scans for those units with limited availability.

One of the current challenges in terms of increasing access to scans is the recruitment of ultrasonographers. It is expected that the establishment of maternity networks across both hospital groups will assist in developing a sustainable model that ensures that every woman within each group can have access to scans.

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