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ONE OF THE country’s biggest maternity hospitals has paused a service that allows women to talk through their birth experiences.
Women who have had difficult birth experiences have been upset to discover the ‘birth reflections’ service, which the hospital previously advertised online, is no longer available.
Launching the confidential service in 2021, the Rotunda said that talking one to one with a dedicated midwife would help women to understand, for instance, why interventions such as c-section or instrumental delivery were needed and the possible implications for future births.
The hospital says now that a lack of HSE funding has led to the service being halted, while the HSE says staffing shortages have meant that the necessary post can’t be filled.
It is understood that the service has not been available for at least nine months.
Alison told The Journal that she had questions about her emergency caesarean section, which took place in the Rotunda last year.
It was not until March of this year, a few months after the birth, that she “felt able” to talk to someone about her experience.
“I don’t really know why things happened, or why they happened the way they did,” she said.
This included not being informed until leaving the hospital that forceps had been used in her c-section and not being able to hold her baby immediately after delivery, contrary to what she’d been told to expect.
When Alison enquired about a birth reflection through the advertised email address, she got an automated response telling her to contact them again in October. No alternatives were provided.
I feel disappointed and just left on my own to deal with it … It’s kind of hard to work yourself up to send that email.
Another woman who spoke to The Journal and did not want to be identifed explained that she had used the Rotunda’s birth reflection service in the past.
It was during the pandemic, so the meeting took place over Zoom. The woman said she found the service “absolutely brilliant”. She said the nurse was “lovely” and talked her through what happened.
After this positive experience, the woman sought a reflection for her second birth, which she described as “quite traumatic”.
“[The birth] was just such a blur, and I want to go through what happened. I think that would help me kind of deal with it,” she said.
I just thought it would be beneficial to go through the reflections again, to see what happened and if anything could have been done different.
She too was met with an automated response.
The Rotunda said the initial funding to resource the service was provided by the hospital’s Board for two years but was then absorbed into the hospital’s headcount and funded as part of service arrangement with the HSE.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the specialist staff member is on long-term sick leave “and the hospital has been unable to replace [them] due to service demands”.
“This is being reviewed and [we] hope in 2025 to have the birth reflections service back running and fully operational.”
Earlier this year, women affected by birth trauma in Ireland called on the government to launch an inquiry into the issue, following a report published in the UK.
Safer Births Ireland, an advocacy group for improved maternity care, said it was “disheartening” to hear of the absence of a birth reflection service in the Rotunda Hospital, noting the “profound negative impacts” a lack of support can have.
“It is imperative that these hubs prioritise a consistent and high-standard approach to aftercare, ensuring that all individuals receive the support they need, independent of staff availability,” Lisa Duffy, one of the group’s founders said.
She added that providing such a service will “not only enhance the quality of care but also foster a more compassionate and understanding environment for those recovering from such challenging experiences”.
The HSE said that all women “have the right to request a meeting” with a midwife or obstetrician to talk about their birth experience, and that the 19 maternity units “are committed to providing birth reflection services”.
However, a spokesperson said, “access to this and other specialist services, is subject to the availability of appropriately trained and qualified staff”.
“As is widely recognised, there is a shortage of nursing and midwifery posts across our services, which can at times create challenges for some maternity units.”
In November, the healthcare workers’ unions voted to take industrial action over the amount of unfilled positions.
They argued that recruitment restrictions and the suppression of posts in the HSE were putting pressure on existing staff and risking the safety of patients.
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We have the other extreme here. Damned if do. Damned if you don’t. The fact is heroin destroys families. They should of thought of that when selling the horrible stuff.
You’ll find that the majority, if not all, these inmates have come from broken homes and deprived communities where they sold drugs to survive. It’s nasty and yes they were part of the cycle that they themselves were trapped in but Obama is acknowledging that solution involve them; much in the same way Mo Molam knew the peace process in NI had to involve inmates in British prisons.
Why is Obama doing this at the end of his term instead of at the beginning? The US prison population stands at over 2million. That’s more than China has incarcerated. It’s almost 2.5 times more than Russia has in prison.
the vast majority of prisons in the US are privately owned, run foe profit and care more about the bottom line than society. barry is an actor..reading off a script and being told what to do, as badly as drugs have messed up parts of society unpunished white collar crime and the burden it has put on society has damaged it a lot more.
in america there is a prison industrial complex,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,thats the problem.
here there are yobos with 17 previous convictions walking free and committing more serious crimes because the justice system is far to lenient on them. the legal system does not mind, its a big cash cow for them.
Obama is a good actor and that’s all. It is well established fact that since he took office his administration has refused more freedom of information requests than other other administration in US history. And if he gave two shits about ‘non-violent crimes’ then he’d have long arranged for Snowden to come home and would have intervened in the Bradley Manning case as he could have done at any time.
He’s a liar, and has done nothing but further liberalise US laws (which is why most of these guys are in prison in the first place).
Hilary Clinton is far worse than he and if she makes it in it’s bye bye US.
OK idiot. Restored pride to US after years of Bush’s wrath. A true statesman. Agree with you about Hillary though. I hope Sanders wins
Try making a point like an adult and I might respond to you. Other than that. Take a hike.
you just replied to him.
My heart is bleeding purple piss reading the sob stories.
If anything our Judiciary here could learn a thing or two from US Judges about sentencing and the whole US legal system.
Instead of having Solicitors and Barristers they have just one set Lawyers who deal with your case from start to finish. Where there is a dedicated Prosecution Service staffed by full time Prosecution Lawyers and a dedicated Public Defenders Office staffed with full time Defence Lawyers for those that would normally get free legal aid here. And then Private Legal Firms for those that can afford them.
Yes because there is so little crime in the US compared to Ireland.
Funny how you, a prison officer, propose following almost every part of the US save the mass privatization of prisons, wonder why that could be, oh right, self interest.
Wari.
Simply because Privatised Prisons have been shown time and time again to be an utter disaster in terms of security and staff safety. One only has to look at our nearest neighbour to see just how much of a bad idea they are and why the rest of Europe are not following suit. In reality they actually cost the state more than those under Government control in the long term.
I’m all for criminals doing time for their crimes especially violent or sexual crime but some of the sentences for carrying a small amount of drugs are ridiculous. Check out the segment John Oliver did on it, it’s a real eye opener. When I think of the idiot I was as a teenager, I would hate to go to jail for 15 years because of being on idiot.
I didn’t deal drugs! lol
If the sale of illegal substances was legalised and regulated then a lot of these places would see a massive reduction in crime as the people relying on the drug trade to make a living would be forced into tax-paying, gainful employment as they could not compete with a well regulated, safe industry. Also, not only would we gain the tax from the legal sale of drugs, it would be much easier to ensure the quality and safety of such substances as they could be tested in proper labs before being passed onto the public. It doesn’t take a genius to see that the head in the sand approach just doesn’t work. As long as there is a clear demand for drugs, there will always be people willing to risk everything to meet that demand for massive tax free profits.
In fact the Americans have the right idea here. Conspiracy to distribute heroin is no small crime. In my opinion 15 years is entirely appropriate. Crime must be punished harshly or we are all doomed.
They should do more about guns than 1000 year prison terms
How about maybe not dealing heroin. Heroin is a violent drug as is most other drugs. And yes that includes Weed. So just because the initial deal was violent… what we should let them away. The Americans have the right way. Full length senences for federal offences. If we could adopt there legal court room system this country would be a hell of a lot better off.
Please pardon me, i just have to share my testimony on how i was CURED OF HIV with the help of Dr.Boadi’s Herbal Medicine.
Finding out you have HIV can be an incredibly shattering experience. And I think the reason for this is everyone is under the false assumption that the virus is not curable. Well, i totally disagree with this. I was diagnosed of HIV disease for the past 3 years, with the curiosity and search for a cure i came across a blog and i saw lot of testimony post from people making a reference to DOCTOR BOADI ABIODUN how he used his natural herbal medicine to cure them of their diseases Some testimonies was centered on;
*HIV (with a very low cd4 count)
*HEPATITIS B
*HERPES,
*ASTHMA,
*EPILEPSY,
*CANCER,
*INFERTILITY
*STAPHYLOCOCCUS…
I decided to give it a trial, though i never believed in herbal medicine but i was in a way convinced with the sort of amazing testimonies i saw online i decided to contact him, with the response he gave, He promised to prepare and send the “TATAHWE” Medicine to me. It was not up to a week after i placed an order, I got the medicine and he instructed me to drink the medicine for two weeks ( only evenings before bed) after which, I should go back to the hospital for a Re-Test. I followed his instructions and i discovered that my urine became yellowish for good two weeks so immediately i finished the medicine i went for the test the following week, it was very surprising i tested negative. I can’t thank dr Boadi enough, so I decided to promote him because he cured me from my disease, there’s no disease he can’t cure with his medicine. Please also spread the good news to others so that those with same illness can be cured.
you can relate with Dr Boadi on:
+2348071180211 (whatsapp connect)
+2347037373235 (mobile)
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thanks for your audience and i hope you find help like i did.
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