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National Maternity Strategy Implementation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 May 2019

Wednesday, 15 May 2019

Ceisteanna (66)

Stephen Donnelly

Ceist:

66. Deputy Stephen Donnelly asked the Minister for Health the reason there has been a lack of progress in rolling out the national maternity strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20746/19]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Ireland’s first National Maternity Strategy was published in 2016 and is currently being implemented on a phased basis by the National Women & Infants Health Programme (NWIHP) in the HSE. Realising the vision articulated in the Strategy requires a fundamental restructuring of maternity service delivery, as well as significant investment over the lifetime of the Strategy. This work is ongoing and considerable progress has been made to date to implement the Strategy’s recommendations.

The significant funding provided to the NWIHP has helped in this regard by increasing capacity through the recruitment of additional midwives, consultants, theatre staff, ultrasonographers and Quality and Safety managers across the service. In 2016, the year the Strategy was launched, development funding of €3m was provided for maternity services. This was followed by increased funding of €6.8m in 2017. In 2018, €4.15m development funding was allocated to the NWIHP to progress the Strategy. Funding of €3.1m is being made available to the NWIHP in 2019 to continue services introduced in 2018, along with an additional €1m funding to further progress the Strategy.

As a result of the investment in maternity services made since the launch of the Strategy, more women and their families are being offered midwifery led care, with many of our maternity hospitals and units now providing home-away-from-home suites and community-based midwifery services. Bereavement teams have been established in all maternity hospitals and units and are providing compassionate care to women and families, in line with the National Standards for Bereavement Care following Pregnancy Loss and Perinatal Death. In addition, the expansion of anomaly scanning services is continuing, and 15 hospitals now offer routine scans to women, up from 7 in 2016. Other significant progress includes the design and roll out of safety frameworks, including the establishment of Serious Incident Management Teams at hospital group level, the design and trial of a Maternity Event Review Tool and the completion of Phase 1 of the Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System. My Department will continue to work with the NWIHP in 2019 to support the ongoing implementation of the National Maternity Strategy.

Question No. 67 answered with Question No. 60.
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