Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I have one very clear and concise request for the Department tonight. It is that every maternity unit in the country publish its risk assessments each month or whenever a new assessment is completed so that people accessing the services can understand why they are still not allowed to receive supports from their partners in some hospitals. During the pandemic, partners were banned from appointments in order to curtail the spread of Covid-19 in clinical settings. We all understood that but the reality is that even now, those restrictions are still in place. In some units, visitors are restricted to one designated support partner. In some cases, partners are not even allowed into particular appointments. Time and again I have outlined in this House the negative consequences for partners, women and families and, more importantly, for infants when people are not supported during childbirth. The ongoing exclusion of partners from antenatal appointments and assessment units is being implemented by individual hospitals. We all know that but ultimately it is the Department and the Minister who have a responsibility to address the ongoing constraints that are contrary to the best care and best practice for people giving birth.

During the pandemic, at least the restrictions were part of national guidance and were developed in collaboration with stakeholders, patients and senior HSE executives, but this model of decision-making seems very regional in its approach and highly specific. What I am asking for is not necessarily to override those decisions but simply to make them legible to the people they are affecting.

From Wednesday last week, mask-wearing is no longer mandatory in hospitals, except in certain circumstances. That is the last vestige of Covid leaving our system. We are all happy to see that but it makes the continued existence of some of those restrictions in maternity units even more baffling and really hard to understand for the families affected.

To put it mildly, although it might be a significant understatement, we do not have a positive legacy in this country of listening to women in terms of their healthcare and what they need. It is frustrating that Deputies still have to come into this Chamber to talk about maternity restrictions and ask the Government to provide guidance to maternity units. It is now more than three years since partner restrictions were implemented in maternity units across the country. Thousands of people have laboured alone, have given birth on their own without their partner, the support who knows them best, but also the person who is often the other parent of the child in question. People have suffered unbearable losses in maternity units, on their own, without support, while others have had to cope with sick infants and deal with the impact of that on their own. Their partners have to sit in carparks or at home wondering how their very much loved family is coping without them, knowing for certain that they might not be coping and are still on their own.

In August 2021, the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, confirmed that the nationwide restrictions were no longer in place and that partners could once again be present to support during maternity care. We were all hoping that would mean they could come to everything in its entirety. I truly do not understand why we are still here talking about this issue and I am still getting emails and phone calls from distressed people on it. We know it is affecting people who do not have English as a first language or who may be from a particularly vulnerable cohort. They may not have the agency to challenge decisions. It is really important that when specific decisions are being made, they are made legible and people are informed of the risk assessment and the reason the decision was made. That information must be available and public.

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