Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I rise to ask the Leader again to arrange for the Minister for Health and Children to come into the House. I am concerned about the effect the national service plan will have on the HSE plans for reconfiguring maternity services. It seems there will have to be a minimum number of births per unit. It is suggested that this is necessary to ensure comprehensive and safe services for all patients. That suggestion is an insult to every midwife who is delivering care in this country and elsewhere in the world. One does not need a centre of excellence to have a baby, or to deliver a baby. One does not need to deliver a specified number of babies to be said to be proficient at delivering babies. It is a shocking insult to suggest that a person who delivers ten babies would not be as good at delivering babies if he or she was delivering just five babies. HSE officials need to start talking to the people on the ground who represent various constituencies throughout this country. We constantly hear about the "reconfiguration" and "transformation" of services. We are actually being told that services are being taken from us. The cutting of services is being presented to us as a fait accompli.