Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. He is right that the national maternity strategy states there must be equal access to standardised ultrasound services for every pregnant woman, not just where there is a potential risk to the child or the mother. That followed the identification of a geographic inequity in the availability of 20-week foetal anomaly scans. The Midland Regional Hospital, Mullingar does not just serve Mullingar. It serves all of Westmeath and Longford, and parts of Offaly, Meath, Louth and Roscommon. It actually services quite a large geographical area. I know this matter is a priority as part of the hospital business case for 2018. I stand to be corrected but I am led to believe that the hospital has the highest rate of births outside Dublin. That is an indication of the large number of people it serves and shows how urgent it is for it to be in a position to offer anomaly scans to all pregnant women from 2018 onwards.

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