Michael Harty (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to concentrate on the National Maternity Hospital and the absolute necessity for a new hospital to replace the hospital on Holles Street which has outgrown its usefulness. St. Vincent's University Hospital is the ideal location for a new maternity hospital because there will be many add-on benefits from co-locating it there. Many pregnant women have diseases which are complicated by their pregnancy and many develop diseases because of pregnancy. It is essential, therefore, they have the expert services that will be available to them on site at St. Vincent's University Hospital. Nobody would argue with the location, but the care of pregnant women must be the central part of this debate, not the site or its ownership. The central argument should be about the best facility for the care of women. The mastership model is very important and must be retained as it will ensure clinical governance in the best interests of the patient. The mastership model should be extended to other maternity hospitals because it is the most efficient form of management. An increase in the numbers of obstetricians and nurses is absolutely essential also.

The ethos of the hospital is of absolute importance. It must be free from religious influence. In a modern multicultural society such as Ireland, the best standards of obstetric care must be followed within the governance of the hospital. They must be within the laws of the land, whatever they might be in five, ten or 50 years' time. The board must have clinical, financial and operational independence. We need to look beyond five years and even beyond 30 because the hospital will have a finite life and will not last forever. The Minister needs to work out a way to ensure the hospital will have no material value to the Sisters of Charity. It is within his competence to make sure the sisters will not be left with a disposable asset. We must have a modern functioning hospital on the site of St. Vincent's University Hospital, ensuring clinical governance in a secular and independent way.

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