Written answers
Tuesday, 4 March 2025
Department of Health
Departmental Strategies
Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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657. To ask the Minister for Health the status of each recommendation in the National Maternity Strategy 2016-2026, in tabular form. [9116/25]
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Progressing women's health continues to be a priority for this Government.
A total of €28 million in new development funding has been invested through the National Maternity Strategy from 2016-2025, including €2 million (€4 million Full Year Cost) to drive forward the Strategy in 2025. This total funding has enabled the recruitment of over 530 whole time equivalent (WTE) staff in maternity services across the country.
The National Maternity Strategy has 77 recommendations, of which 69 have been fully implemented or are being progressed. Work is underway to initiate the remaining actions associated with the recommendations of the Strategy.
The recommendations and their associated actions that are not yet fully implemented are listed in the table below:
| National Maternity Strategy Recommendation | Action Status |
|---|---|
| 7) Additional supports are provided to pregnant women from vulnerable, disadvantaged groups or ethnic minorities, and take account of the family's determinants of health, e.g. socio-economic circumstances. | 1 action implemented, 1 action not yet fully implemented. |
| 17) A consistent approach to information for women about the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy is developed. | 3 actions implemented, 1 action not yet fully implemented. |
| 57) A specialised Perineal Clinic is available within each maternity network, for the specialist assessment and treatment of women with obstetric anal sphincter injury. Onward referral pathways will be in place to specialist pelvic floor/colorectal clinics, with a full multidisciplinary team, where necessary. | 4 actions not yet fully implemented. |
| 62) Women continue to have the option to receive their antenatal care as part of a shared model of care with the GP under the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme (MICS) and will be encouraged to avail of this scheme. | 3 actions not yet fully implemented. |
| 63) A review of the MICS is undertaken, and any necessary adaptations made, to reflect the new Model of Care proposed in this Strategy. | 1 action not yet fully implemented. |
| 64) Any review of the MICS considers the feasibility of extending coverage to include a preconception consultation and postnatal check at 3-4 months and/or additional postnatal GP visits where further pregnancy related needs have been identified. | 1 action not yet fully implemented. |
| 65) The reimbursement of GPs under the MICS is centralised in the Primary Care Reimbursement Service in line with other fee payments under the funded health sector contracted schemes. | 1 action not yet fully implemented. |
| 66) A detailed national standardised dataset is introduced, to support the effective monitoring and evaluation of the MICS. | 2 actions not yet fully implemented. |
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