Vol. 488 No. 2
34 Mr. McGinley asked the Minister for Health and Children the proposals, if any, he has to enforce a strict catchment area policy for public patients with regard to the Dublin maternity hospitals; whether he will to continue to allow patients to exercise a free choice as to which maternity hospital to attend; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5477/98]
Three Dublin maternity hospitals, the Coombe, the Rotunda and the National Maternity Hospitals provide public maternity services to people from counties Dublin, Wicklow and Kildare. In 1996, 92 per cent of mothers who delivered in the three hospitals came from within the designated catchment area, 4 per cent came from Meath, 3 per cent from the rest of Leinster and 1 per cent from elsewhere. These figures include referrals for tertiary services including neo-natal intensive care.
A strategic review of maternity services in Dublin has recently been completed by the Dublin maternity hospitals and submitted to my Department. The report addressed the role of the three hospitals in the organisation and delivery of services in the region and considered, inter alia, the future catchment area which should be served by the Dublin hospitals.
The report concluded that for the future the most appropriate and balanced policy should be that the primary catchment area for each hospital would be its own region and that there should be no restriction on serving other regions within available resources. However patients resident outside the Eastern Regional Health Authority area would not be encouraged, other than for clinical reasons, to avail of the Dublin hospitals.
The report findings will be the subject of discussions with the three maternity hospitals in the coming weeks. The programme for Government, An Action Plan for the Millennium, gave a commitment to identify regional funding imbalances in the system, particularly in the provision of hospital services. The provision of maternity services for all women within their own local region is in line with this commitment.
