Dáil debates

Tuesday, 17 May 2022

National Maternity Services: Motion [Private Members]

 

7:40 pm

Photo of Frank FeighanFrank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I fully appreciate the importance of this issue and the not insignificant concerns raised by many over recent weeks and months, and I am grateful for the opportunity to address some of those concerns. As the Minister for Health noted, we are all trying to achieve the same goal, which is best described by the vision of the national maternity strategy, whereby women and babies will have access to safe, high-quality care in the setting most appropriate to their needs, whereby women and families will be placed at the centre of all services and treated with dignity, respect and compassion, and whereby parents will be supported before, during and after pregnancy to allow them to give their child the best possible start in life.

A significant part of delivering on that vision and achieving our shared goal relates to providing targeted investment in women's health services. The Government has prioritised women’s health comprehensively and invested heavily to ensure women and girls will get the quality healthcare they expect and deserve. Another significant element of delivering on our shared vision relates to the development of a world-class maternity hospital that will provide and perform for the women, families and babies of this country.

In the context of our history with regard to women’s healthcare, I appreciate that very valid concerns have been raised and I fully understand how sensitive the issue is. It is vital to point out, however, that those same concerns were identified at an early stage and have been the basis of significant and protracted negotiations over several years. In particular, the issues of governance and clinical independence have been central to those discussions, and it is no surprise people might find it difficult to trust assurances given about the services in the new hospital because they have been let down so badly in the past and reproductive rights were so hard won.

That is why so much time and effort has gone into developing the draft legal framework to ensure we have legally binding commitments from all sides. This is what provides the assurances. We are not talking about easy words but about agreed legal documents that have been drafted with the support of legal advisers and exhaustively examined. That is how we can have confidence in the new hospital's ability to provide the full range of women's health services in accordance with the laws and policies of the State.

The legal documents have all been published and there has been intense scrutiny. The absence of any religious ethos is crystal clear. The new hospital is not just allowed but obliged to provide all lawfully permissible maternity, gynaecological, obstetrical and neonatal services. There are mechanisms for intervention in the unlikely event that there is an issue. The Minister for Health of the day can, if needed, direct the board of this new hospital to provide all of these services. All lawfully permissible services will be provided and nothing will be prohibited due to religious beliefs or ethical codes.

It is very important to note and to remind the House that the current infrastructure at the National Maternity Hospital does not provide an appropriate environment for the realisation of the national maternity strategy's vision. Several hundred pregnant women require transfer to St. Vincent's Hospital as inpatients and a small number of critically ill women are transferred to receive intensive care not available onsite at Holles Street. This is not in keeping with best practice. The hospital also has many multi-occupancy wards, which increases the risk of infection and compromises the privacy and dignity of patients. By comparison, in the new national maternity hospital, all inpatient accommodation, including in the neonatal intensive care unit, will be in single rooms, increasing safety, privacy and dignity. The new hospital will also facilitate a modern campus approach to healthcare where a range of medical entities operate in close proximity to improve patient care, patient outcomes and patient experience.

It should be noted that clinicians at the National Maternity Hospital and beyond have publicly and very strongly expressed their support for the move. These are the people on the front line delivering babies and caring for women every day of the week. It is certainly noteworthy that, in a letter to senior Ministers, 52 clinicians at the National Maternity Hospital outlined the strong need for this new hospital. Along with all the assistant directors of midwifery, the director of midwifery at the hospital recently wrote to confirm her full support and to re-emphasise the need for this key project. The chair of the National Directors of Midwifery Forum also wrote, on behalf of the forum, to support the move to the St. Vincent's hospital campus at Elm Park. The chair of the medical board of St. Vincent's University Hospital wrote on behalf of the board, which represents more than 250 clinicians across the St. Vincent's hospital network, to outline its overwhelming support for the relocation project. These are the dedicated professionals who will be providing services in the new national maternity hospital. They understand how important and necessary this new facility is. It is very clear that they have full confidence in the agreements that have been brokered.

The very bottom line is that the new national maternity hospital is badly needed and that further delay will only serve to increase that need. We know that the hospital must, and will, provide the full spectrum of services without any undue influence. We know that the State's investment is very well protected as a result of the lengthy negotiations that have now carried on for several years. We know that the project has the overwhelming support of the clinicians, midwives and management that will provide care in the new hospital. It is time to get this hospital built so that we can deliver on the vision of the national maternity strategy sooner rather than later.

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