Maternity Services

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 October 2020

Thursday, 8 October 2020

Ceisteanna (262)

Thomas Pringle

Ceist:

262. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Health his views on the results of the recent HIQA Your Experience survey on experiences of maternity care in Ireland (details supplied); his further views on the fact Letterkenny University Hospital had the second highest rate of service user dissatisfaction in Ireland with care related to pregnancy labour and birth with the joint highest number of respondents rating the maternity care experience as poor to fair; the measures which will be taken to implement meaningful improvements at Saolta Group and Letterkenny University Hospital in particular to ensure that there is no longer a maternity care system in Donegal that leaves more than a quarter of its service users with a poor to fair maternity care experience that could potentially prove traumatic in both the short and long terms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29386/20]

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Health

The National Maternity Strategy recognised the need to listen to women’s voices in order to develop and improve our maternity services and recommended that a National Maternity Experience Survey be undertaken. In that regard, I am very much welcome the publication of the results of the first survey, which I am pleased to note are overwhelmingly positive.

It is, I believe, really important that we recognise what is working well in some of our maternity services and extend that right across the system. However, it is just as important to recognise that some women did not have a positive experience. We must learn from those experiences too and address the areas where improvement is required. In that regard, the survey has informed quality improvement initiatives and each maternity hospital and Community Healthcare Organisation has now developed a quality improvement plan with clearly-defined actions to improve maternity care.

I am fully committed to improving women health services and am very confident that this survey will help us to deliver the safe, high quality, compassionate and responsive maternity service that the women of Ireland expect and deserve. With regard to the Deputy's specific query regarding the measures which will be taken by Saolta Hospital Group, I have asked the Health Service Executive to reply to the Deputy directly.