asked the Minister for Health if he will confirm that the maternity unit at Trim Hospital, County Meath has been closed; and, if so, the reasons for its closure.
Written Answers. - Trim (Meath) Hospital.
201.
I conveyed my consent to the proposal of the North-Eastern Health Board to close the maternity hospital in Trim on 20 January last. I did so because I found the case for closure to be compelling.
First of all, the number of births in the hospital has been declining steadily, for example, from 222 births in 1979 to 116 in 1982. There were only seven births in the hospital in January last. By contrast the number of births to mothers from County Meath averages between 2,100 and 2,200 each year and for the most part these are delivered in the maternity units in Drogheda and Dublin.
Secondly, it is generally medically accepted that it is safer to have babies delivered in a consultant staffed unit. The hospital in Trim is served by a part-time medical practitioner only and does not have the support facilities such as paediatric, medical, surgical, pathological and radiological services of a consultant staffed unit which nowadays have come to be regarded as essential for the wellbeing of mothers and babies. As a result of this serious concern has been expressed about the safety of patients in the hospital at Trim.
Furthermore, I am concerned at present in a situation of extreme financial stringency that non-viable services be discontinued and the resources deployed to provide services for which there is a greater need. The closure of the maternity hospital in Trim will enable a much needed geriatric facility to be opened in the nearby geriatric hospital. In addition the Health Board is proceeding to provide improved out-patient consultant staffed clinics in Trim for maternity patients. In fact I have made available a grant of £15,000 for this purpose to which the board is adding up to £20,000. I understand that the health board have ceased to take in new patients to the unit with effect from 1 March and it is expected that the patients already in the unit will be discharged by 4 March.
I should emphasise that there will be no job losses as a result of the closure and the staff have willingly co-operated in their transfer to work in the extension to the geriatric hospital.