Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, is very welcome to the House.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this important Commencement matter. As a father of young kids, he will understand the concerns I have for young parents and mothers going through maternity services.

Most of my contribution is about maternity services throughout the country but, in particular, in Tipperary University Hospital, Clonmel. The first thing to acknowledge is the work the staff there have done, particularly over the past three years, during Covid. The maternity ward has played a key role in that. That has to be acknowledged, and I thank the staff for that.

The reason I tabled this matter is a concern that there does not seem to be a standardised, universal approach to how maternity services work with regard to visitation. Some hospitals continue to impose restrictions on maternity services, citing Covid as the reason. Given the recent announcement by the World Health Organization, the pandemic should no longer impact maternity care. Women in pregnancy should always have an advocate for them there while they are going through the maternity ward. The problem we have is that every hospital is treating maternity services differently, whether we look at visiting hours or people who are allowed in. For example, in Tipperary University Hospital the visiting hours on maternity wards are from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m; in Cork, they are from 7 a.m. until 11 p.m; and in Clonmel, a patient is allowed to have only one visitor. That is a problem because that is not the way it used to be before Covid. Some hospitals have not gone back to the way things were pre-Covid. The concern I have is that a great many women go into maternity wards and end up having to get a C-section. That means they are in hospital for a long period, normally four nights, so they could be four nights and five days in hospital getting excellent care, but many people have young kids and young families whom they then do not see for the four or five days.

There is something special about bringing one's full family in to see a newborn child. When Covid restrictions are finished and the WHO has said that it is not a pandemic any more, the very least we can allow is for a mother to bring her other child or children in to see a newborn. It is a really important stage in life to be able to have family come together when a newborn baby is in hospital. It is not the same just coming home with the baby. There is something special about bringing them in. There are hospitals doing that but there are other hospitals that are not. That is not particularly fair. Obviously, there will be points where there is a Covid outbreak and new measures have to be brought into place. I have no problem with that. What I am talking about is the set, standard visiting restrictions that are in place, regardless of whether there is a Covid outbreak. I have had loads of parents come into my office concerned and upset that they are not receiving the sort of opportunity that others across the country are.

The real concern I have is that expectant mothers and parents now know that the visiting restrictions are not the same in Clonmel as they are in, say, Cork or Limerick and they are choosing other hospitals to have their babies in. That has a detrimental effect on our hospital in Clonmel, and I do not want that to happen. I, therefore, ask that the Department give some sort of indication or guidance as to what should be allowed post Covid in respect of restrictions on visiting hours for all family members, including kids, to be able to come in and see a newborn.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue. I know he has been a very strong advocate for maternity services right through the pandemic in consistently raising this issue.

Limitations on partners accessing maternity services have been an issue of huge concern for women and their families, and I fully appreciate that such access limitations were very difficult for everyone during the Covid-19 pandemic. In that regard, it is important to emphasise that all access restrictions that were introduced for support partners during the Covid-19 pandemic have now been removed. The HSE recently advised that access for support partners has been restored, including for antenatal appointments, routine scanning, labour, delivery and time spent on antenatal and postnatal wards.

The underlying aim throughout the pandemic was to keep maternity services as safe as possible, to support women throughout pregnancy and to ensure access for support partners. Maternity services were remarkably successful in protecting women and staff during the Covid-19 pandemic while remaining focused on maximising access for support partners. In that context, the clinical advice remains in respect of the potential for infection to spread in maternity services, and limited exceptions to partner access may be introduced at times based on local infection control and health and safety measures.

We are all aware of the variations that exist right across our maternity services, including the number of births, the complexity of care provided and, in particular, the infrastructure of each service. Those variables all feed into decisions that are made locally as regards infection prevention and control risks. Each maternity service must, on that basis, assess its own ability to accommodate access. For example, in light of the recent fire in Wexford General Hospital, while support partners can attend all antenatal appointments, they are requested to wait outside until their pregnant partner is called for her appointment.

The HSE fully recognises the important role that support partners play in supporting a person using maternity services, as well as the right of the support partner to be present and to participate in the care process to the greatest practical degree. It is, therefore, vital that, should any limitations on access for partners be introduced in a hospital for a specific reason, they should be the very minimum required. The HSE has advised maternity services of this and has stipulated that, when introduced, limitations must be clearly explained and applied with consideration for individual circumstances and needs.In all circumstances a person-centred approach should be adopted to ensure the context in which the need for a support person to be present is taken into consideration.

To conclude, I assure the House that any access limitations individual hospitals may implement from time to time are at the minimum necessary in terms of infection prevention and control. I reiterate that decisions to limit access are taken locally by clinicians and hospital management who know their own circumstances intimately and are best placed to respond to local developments. The HSE has assured the Department that every effort continues to be made to maximise access for support partners during their pregnant partner’s maternity care.

Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I recognise that, and Wexford General Hospital is a good example of a hospital where measures had to be brought in because of circumstances that arose. That is not the point I am making, however. The HSE states that restrictions have no longer applied since Covid but that is not the case in some hospitals. They have not gone back to pre-Covid visiting measures. There is a feeling among parents and families that it is almost as though some hospitals do not want visitors coming in at all. The arrival of a newborn is an important stage in someone's life. I know people are allowed one partner in to visit but the immediate family, including children, want to come in to hospital and see the newborn child. I totally get that we put measures in place and that local management has the authority to make decisions based on Covid outbreaks. That happened in Clonmel only recently. That is fine and I have no issue with it but what I am talking about is visiting restrictions that apply when everything is normal. Tipperary University Hospital has not returned to what was normal pre-Covid. I am asking the HSE to intervene to make sure the mothers of newborns get the service they got before Covid.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Again, I acknowledge the great work Senator Ahearn had done on this area during the pandemic and since. As a father, I wholly understand the need for support partners to be present in maternity services and that the newborn's siblings get that unique, once in a lifetime opportunity, to see their newborn sibling in hospital. I will raise the Senator's concerns with the Minister for Health and ask him to come back to the Senator directly.