Rotunda stand off over – real conversations on resourcing maternity care must now start
Rotunda stand off over - real conversations on resourcing maternity care must now start - The Labour Party
Labour’s health spokesperson Marie Sherlock TD has welcomed the end to the standoff between the Minister for Health and doctors at the Rotunda hospital.
“For all the staff of the Rotunda who provide brilliant care and for the women attending the hospital, the end of the impasse this evening is welcome. But a serious conversation on better resourcing of maternity care must now begin.
“The phasing out of private activity out of public hospital system is only one piece of the reform that needs to take place.
“The stand off over the past week will only constitute real progress if we now see a real and meaningful political push from Government towards offering better maternity services. We need to see the move towards a midwife led maternity care system and the offering of excellent continuity of care to all pregnant women, not just those who can afford it.
“The word choice has been used in many discussions over the past week. Unfortunately, much of the current conversation has reduced the concept to women wanting to access privately provided maternity care and for decades some women have chosen this simply because they believed this was the safest way to deliver their baby.
“We need to discuss what true “choice” should and could mean within the Irish maternity system and how all women need to be offered continuity of care.
“There has been a real failure to deliver on the aspirations of the National Maternity strategy which are over 10 years old. That now needs to change.
“For the Rotunda, this means ensuring greater numbers of midwives are employed. Yet we know that the workforce planning report commissioned by NWIP remains unpublished because it would show the scale of need for additional midwife need right across the maternity system.
“We need to have an honest conversation about where we are in regards to maternity care in this country, and chart a path forward to delivering best in class public care.”