The INMO welcomes the position taken by Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeil, in relation to the delivery of health care via the public system. However, the union has noted this does require a significant rethink of the finances, particularity to increase capacity and provide safe staffing.
Responding to comments made by the Minister today (Friday), the INMO has stated that it supports the full implementation of a single-tier health service that provides equal care based on need and not ability to pay, and that maternity services are an area where the focus must be on improving standards and choice for all women.
This choice, says the INMO, must include home birth services, and the expansion of midwifery-led services, which are currently only available in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda and Cavan General Hospital.
INMO General Secretary Phil Ní Sheaghdha said
The future of the health service depends on equal care being provided to all patients, and in maternity care, where embedding choice and centering women must be a priority, this is particularly important.
The current maternity strategy expires this year without full implementation, and it is now time for the ethos of women’s choice in a modern public health service to be fully recognized. It is time for a fully modern maternity strategy, which must focus on the development of maternity services outside of the hospital setting, including, as is the norm in other jurisdictions, midwifery-led care.
Deviation from the key principles of Sláintecare undermine the progress being made towards a more accessible and equal health service, at a time when we must be focused on strengthening and growing the midwifery workforce and developing midwifery care in the community and in midwife-led units.
It is vital that maternity care, prenatal care, post-natal care and community care are of the highest possible standard in the public service, and that continuity of care is incorporated into all maternity services to ensure the best possible outcomes for women and babies. A midwifery-led care model must be part of the range of choices for women, and reform must focus on integrated, multidisciplinary, woman-centred care that supports all pathways and honours informed choice.
Equal and excellent maternity care should be available to all women in Ireland to ensure choice and high standards are not limited based on where you live.