Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The recommendations in HIQA's maternity overview report found a lack of clarity and national leadership within the HSE regarding the responsibility for implementing the national maternity strategy. This strategy provides a framework for a new and better maternity service that will improve choice for women and ensure that smaller maternity units in particular are better supported to provide sustainability, high quality and safe care. It recommended the expansion of community and home-based care to ensure greater access to midwifery-led services in all geographical locations.

This was echoed in the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future, which committed to implementing the national maternity strategy. In June 2019, while in opposition, the Minister brought forward a motion on national maternity services that called, among other things, for progress to start in 2019 on all projects not yet commenced and for investment in community-based pathways to ensure choice for mothers. Despite all these commitments and promises, midwifery-led services are still only available in two locations - Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and Cavan General Hospital. Indeed this was almost reduced to one midwifery-led unit last year when the lack of clarity and national leadership within the HSE that was highlighted in the maternity services overview report was in evidence. In total contrast to the recommendation of the national maternity strategy, there was an effort to subsume the excellent midwifery-led unit at Cavan General Hospital under a new consultant-led model of care. It took a public backlash to halt this contradictory proposal and bring about a commitment to undertake a review of the maternity services at Cavan General Hospital, which eventually recommended that the midwifery-led unit service be expanded. The commitments and promises made by this Government with regard to the expansion of midwifery-led services across all geographical locations must be delivered. Women have waited too long for these commitments to be realised.

There is growing public disquiet about the ownership, governance and ethos of the planned new national maternity hospital. I believe there are many legitimate concerns about the implications of private ownership of the national maternity hospital by a company with a religious ethos. The site is to be leased to the State but ownership will be retained by a private entity. Although the proposed facility can be expected to cost taxpayers over €1 billion, only the shell of the hospital will be publicly owned. The State is to have no involvement in the private company set to own the new facility and no role in its operations. I have serious concerns regarding the potential impact of this on women's healthcare and services and believe these should be provided in a publicly owned hospital. A public hospital and its grounds should be fully owned by the State rather than a private company. I support the motion.

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