Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In concluding, Deputy Eugene Murphy said we all want to do the right thing for everybody, in particular women and their husbands and families, in maternity hospitals and other hospitals. It is important to remember that we have wonderful services in maternity hospitals and many extremely dedicated people from the top down.

On behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris, I thank Deputies for their contributions this evening. It is encouraging to note that across the House there is a shared and sincere interest in the development and improvement of maternity hospitals, as well as an ongoing appreciation of the importance of implementing the national maternity strategy. It is important that we have all taken the opportunity to recognise the hard work, skill and dedication of those who deliver maternity care every day in hospitals right across the country. It is their passion and, indeed their compassion, that makes a difference to thousands of women and families at a joyous but vulnerable time in their lives.

As noted, in recent years, and in particular since the maternity strategy was launched in 2016, unprecedented attention has been focused on the development of maternity services. That focus is beginning to bear fruit, due in no small part to the dedication and skill of the talented people who deliver maternity services every day. It is also due to the increased and sustained focus that maternity services have received from the Government, including the additional funding we have provided, year-on-year, to ensure that those developments and improvements can take place. I believe that even one negative experience in our maternity services is one too many, and it is important that we recognise how difficult these events can be for the women and families concerned.

Both the Minister for Health and I firmly believe that implementing the national maternity strategy is the best way to reduce the negative experiences and also the best way to deliver the safe, quality and compassionate maternity service that the women of Ireland expect and deserve. In that regard, much has already been done to implement the strategy, and the progress made is both considerable and encouraging. As a result of the work undertaken to date, more women can now avail of the greater choice recommended by the strategy. The expansion of community midwifery services, and the development of hospital-based midwifery-led units is allowing more women to access midwifery-led care, which was a key theme running through the submissions received during the formation of the maternity strategy. We now have significantly enhanced safety and quality frameworks in place, with directors of midwifery, patient safety statements, serious incident management forums and quality and safety managers all working to ensure that services are delivered in a more standardised and safe manner. Another very significant service development, as recommended in the national maternity strategy, is the increase in access to routine anomaly scanning from seven hospitals and units in 2016 to 15 hospitals and units now. It is further envisaged that all 19 hospitals and units will offer 100% access to anomaly scanning by the end of this year.

We have improved clinical governance structures in place, with the national women and infants health programme established within the HSE and the ongoing implementation of maternity networks. As was outlined by the Minister, Deputy Harris, earlier, development funding has also been utilised to increase staff numbers working in the maternity services, which includes additional midwives, consultants, theatre staff, ultrasonographers and quality and safety managers. When considered in conjunction with our declining rate of births, these staff increases provide us with an improved staff to birth ratio. We are, therefore, better placed than we have ever been to ensure that all maternity hospitals, large and small, can provide quality services in the safest manner possible.

From a capital perspective, the national maternity strategy also sets out the Government's policy to co-locate the four remaining stand-alone maternity hospitals with acute adult hospitals, which will help to provide optimal clinical outcomes for women and their babies. Significant funding for those major projects is set out in the national development plan. As Members will be aware, the relocation of the National Maternity Hospital to the St. Vincent's hospital campus at Elm Park will be the first of the relocation projects to be progressed. To that end, officials in the Department of Health are engaging with both the National Maternity Hospital and the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group to develop a legal framework to protect the State's significant investment in the new hospital. In addition, work on the enabling and decant works is under way at St. Vincent's University Hospital which will allow for the construction of the National Maternity Hospital on St. Vincent's campus.

The national maternity strategy proposes a new model of integrated care that provides three care pathways - supported, assisted and specialised - which aims to ensure that every woman will be able to access the right level of care, from the right professional, at the right time and in the right place, based on her individual needs. As was set out in some detail by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Harris, earlier, considerable progress has been made to implement that model of care. That, in turn, is helping to fulfil the strategy's vision of enabling women to have a wider choice of pregnancy and birthing experiences.

I would, therefore, like to reassure the House again that this Government remains committed to the progressive development of maternity services in this country through the implementation of the national maternity strategy. As such, this Government will continue to support the national women and infants health programme in progressing the strategy's implementation. This Government support will enable the underlying vision and recommendations of the strategy to be fulfilled, including that services should be woman-centred and provide integrated team-based care and that women should have increased choice at a very special, individual and private time for them and their families, while also crucially ensuring that the services they receive are safe.

The national maternity strategy represents a truly holistic and national approach to the design and delivery of maternity care in this country, which will fundamentally change how maternity care is delivered and will do so for the better. With the publication of the strategy and the establishment of the national women and infants health programme we have the policies, the plan and the leadership in place to deliver the safe, quality and compassionate service that mothers and babies in Ireland expect and deserve.

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