Dan Boyle
Ceist:149 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Health and Children the supports that are being provided through his Department to facilitate home births in the Southern Health Board region. [24717/03]
Vol. 573 No. 2
149 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Health and Children the supports that are being provided through his Department to facilitate home births in the Southern Health Board region. [24717/03]
Following the publication of the report of the maternity and infant care scheme review group, the chief executive officers of the health boards established an expert group to consider approaches to providing a home birth service. The expert group recommended three pilot projects which were subsequently established and funded by my Department. These included a community midwifery service to be conducted in Cork by the Southern Health Board. This service was launched on 25 May 2001.
The implementation of this pilot project was overseen by a steering group and completed its two year pilot phase in May 2003. The project has recently been independently evaluated and a copy of the evaluation report has been forwarded to my Department.