The Appalling State of Irish Maternity Services
Sep 24th, 2008 by Donagh
Yesterday, Padraic Flanagan, while giving testimony to the inquest on the death of his wife, Evelyn, allegedly because of obstetric haemorrhage after the birth of their second child at Castelbar General Hospital last October said:
“What should have been a joyous occasion for us all has turned into the most tragic of our lives with repercussions that will last for years.”
While the inquest is set to continue, it throws stark light on the provision of Maternity Services in Ireland. In the Irish Left Review today, Dr. Gerry Burke has a devastating critique of those services and highlights the fact that the Irish government has done nothing to improve them despite the availability of specially commissioned reports which call for immediate action.
“The state of the Ireland’s maternity services is deeply unsatisfactory. In August of last year, in considerable frustration and anger at the lack of any cohesive action to make improvements, I wrote to the Irish Times (letter) to describe the situation.By budget time, it was already known that several large maternity hospitals had had their busiest month of August ever, and the number of bookings was increasing so that 2008 would be busier still. Senior clinicians at the maternity hospitals were all extremely worried that mortality rates, maternal as well as perinatal, would inevitably rise. In introducing the budget, the Ministers of Health and Finance recognised that there was indeed an emerging problem. The result was that not an extra red cent was voted for the maternity services.
In December, the Irish Times published a very powerful editorial which stated:
“The lives of mothers and infants are being put at risk because of staff shortages and inadequate facilities at our maternity hospitals. What should be a time of joy and celebration for families may be blighted as a result of funding deficiencies and official inaction. It is an appalling situation. Unless these shortcomings are addressed as a matter of urgency, the situation will worsen as our population continues to expand.”
Still no action.”
You can read the rest of article here.
Ah, Castlebar, where a few generations on one side of my family were born - looks like they’re doing their best to go back to the infant mortality rates then…
Reminds me of why I never got to celebrate the birth of my kids in Conway’s - ma chere et tendre took one look at the Rotunda (’like a barracks’ I believe she said) and legged it home to France.
Unfortunately, not many Irish women have that option.