Maternity Services

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 September 2016

Tuesday, 27 September 2016

Questions (608)

Clare Daly

Question:

608. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Health if he will commission a fully independent hospital wide review of vaginal birth after caesarean section, VBAC, counselling at Lourdes hospital, rather than the HSE managed review of an individual case with no start or completion date and no review of any of the other cases, despite the fact that its own limited audit of 2011 cases highlighted over 50% of cases had no documentation of the risks of VBAC being discussed. [26670/16]

Written answers

Minister for Health

The individual case referred to has been the subject of correspondence between the family involved, the HSE and the Department of Health. The Deputy National Director, Acute Hospitals Division, HSE is dealing directly with the concerns raised. As a result of this I have referred this matter to the HSE to respond to you directly.

A new model of care has been developed for maternity services within the National Maternity Strategy which was launched in January 2016. The Strategy recommends that services should be woman-centred and provide integrated, team-based care, with women seeing the most appropriate professional, based on their need. This will ensure that specialist care will be available to women as required.