Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

There is a shortfall of hundreds of midwives in this country between what is needed, what is best practice and what is reality. The motion makes reference to 200 but I believe the real figure is closer to 300. At the same time, women are tending to have children at a later age than was the case in the past, including at a later age for a first child. The combination of these two things is putting an enormous strain on maternity services.

I want to look at this from the point of view of my local hospital, Cork University Maternity Hospital, CUMH. There are currently 30 vacancies for midwives at CUMH. The result is that in the postnatal ward, according to a midwife to whom I spoke before I came to the Chamber, where there should be six midwives on the ward per day, it is not uncommon for the number to be three or four. There is a certain irony here in that one of the factors in the vacancies is that nurses are taking maternity leave and are not being replaced in the way they should be. CUMH is the lead maternity hospital in the region, meaning it gets many referrals, including referrals of some of the most complicated cases. These midwives and that maternity service are trying to deal with this situation from a position of under-staffing.

How do we attract more midwives into our health services? It is not as simple as getting more nurses in from the European Union or more midwives from Asia, and so on. In many countries, there is a qualification which is for both nursing and midwifery whereas, in the Irish health service, there is a specific midwifery qualification. Therefore, not every country can send staff to fill the gaps. While that is the norm in Italy and some other countries, it is not the norm in the majority of countries. Therefore, there are strict limits on the number of midwives who can come into the country to work in our health service at the moment. We need more nurses choosing to have midwifery qualifications and getting involved in midwifery, and more students being trained and coming through the system.

What is holding things back? There are many reasons for things being held back but first and foremost among them is the question of the relatively low pay and the poor and stressful conditions. Midwives took to the picket lines with their nursing colleagues earlier this year to address the situation and a deal was done at the end of that dispute. It was a deal which represented a gain for nurses and midwives but it fell short of the original aim of the strike and what many nurses and midwives aspired to, and many of them would agree with that point. I believe that deal is not going to get to the root cause of the problem - the issues with pay and conditions - and, therefore, the root cause of the problem remains. That is something which will resurface very clearly over the next months and years and the issue will remain to be addressed. If the Government and the Department are not prepared to addresses it, the question of campaigning action, including industrial action, by nurses and midwives will once again come onto the agenda. This is a key issue that will not go away.

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