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THE HSE IS updating its guidance for maternity units to make it clear that partners are permitted to be present through labour and birth, including when women are induced, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said.
There has been ongoing campaign over the past number of months to have restrictions at maternity units lifted.
Donnelly yesterday said each maternity unit in Ireland was being contacted to inform them of the guidance on the lifting of maternity restrictions in hospitals nationwide.
In guidance issued on 30 April, the HSE advises allowing partners to accompany a woman during labour and childbirth. Partners should also be permitted to attend the 20-week scan and other appointments if deemed necessary.
However, maternity hospitals and units set individual restrictions, so exclusions on partners attending scans and the early stages of labour have remained in place in some hospitals.
In a tweet this afternoon, Donnelly confirmed that an assessment from the HSE yesterday found that 14 of Ireland’s 19 maternity units are “fully compliant” with national policy regarding the 20-week scan, birth and neonatal.
Donnelly said the five units that are not compliant “all have at least issues with daily visitation and all five are part of a general hospital, rather than being a standalone maternity unit”.
These will be engaged with further by the HSE to work through solutions, he said.
The health minister noted that in one hospital where there is an issue with partners attending scans due to space constraints, “the scanner is being moved so that partners can be permitted from next week”.
“The HSE is updating guidance again to make it very clear to maternity units that partners are to be present right throughout labour and birth – and that includes women who are induced,” Donnelly said.
Clarifying this further, HSE Chief Clinic Officer Dr Colm Henry said today that when HSE guidance states partners should be able to be present for labour, it means from induction onwards, not just the later stages of labour.
Dr Henry said the HSE is clarifying that for hospitals now.
Donnelly said:
“I welcome that weekly reviews of the situation will be conducted between the HSE and all maternity units. I share the frustration and the anguish of the many pregnant women and their partners about what some of them has been experiencing.”
Outlining situations at five units, Donnelly said issues at St Luke’s Kilkenny and Wexford General will be reviewed next week.
He said issues at Tipperary University Hospital will be reviewed “further”, while issues at Wexford University Hospital will be reviewed today. The situation with Letterkenny University Hospital will be reviewed on 17 May.
A number of TDs and senators, such as Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns and Fianna Fáil Senator Lisa Chambers, have been highlighting the issue in recent weeks, calling for change so that women and their partners can be together during the birth of their child, and for important scans.
Last week, The Journal reported multiple experiences of women impacted by partner restrictions during pregnancy and birth.
At the beginning of the year, this publication also highlighted the hundreds of emails sent to the health minister and other government members detailing their stories of being left alone when being told tragic news at maternity hospitals.
The Journal contacted some hospital groups on Tuesday for clarification of their individual maternity visitation policies in place.
The National Maternity Hospital allows partners to attend the 20-week scan, the labour ward or C-section theatre, and inpatient visits for a limited time to postnatal, antenatal or gynaecology wards.
A statement from the Ireland East Hospital Group said some of its maternity units “cannot further ease partner restrictions” at the moment due to the “high amount” of Covid-19 in the community and infrastructure issues at hospitals.
The Regional Hospital in Mullingar and Wexford General Hospital allow partners to attend the 20-week scan and active labour and scheduled caesarean sections.
In St Luke’s General Hospital Carlow/Kilkenny, the group statement said it hopes to facilitate partners at the 20-week scan “as soon as possible”. Partners can currently attend active labour and scheduled C-sections.
Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise said partners can attend the anatomy scan, birth once a woman is admitted to the delivery suite, C-sections and the postnatal ward for an hour.
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And they want to charge people for this sewer smelling fluoridated slop they call water ……
Ballygowan slop.
What is it with this country and it’s water supply❓
I am glad that I have my own well.
I would feel very aggrieved if I was asked to pay for this service.
I’m not being facetious but wouldn’t the idea that once people are paying for the service, then the government can afford to pay for repairs and decent pipes etc? I live in Sydney and pay for water and I’ve no issue with that. Now if the water supply went to sh*it , i would then have an issue paying but if I wasn’t paying, why would I expect to get it for free? I know this won’t go down well but please someone explain why people expect to get water service for free??
I think the problem is though Alison, that this is another bill coming into people’s houses after a few years of reductions in people’s wages, people having lost their jobs, reduction in payments such as childrens allowance, social welfare payments and the introduction of property tax and people arent sure how much more they can take to survive. Also, we were told the property tax was going into our local area and would be used to benefit our area but we cant get so much as a zebra crossing or lollipop lady for our schools without being told by the council we would have to fund raise for it ourselves. In an ideal world, water rates revenue should pay for rusty pipes to be fixed and a better service but I guarantee you in 12, 24 or even 60 months time, warnings such as these will still be issued by the councils that the water is not adequate for consumption.
It’s not the paying for a service we have an issue with. It’s paying it to a private company who have a monopoly and therefore will charge us what they like. We are being forced into this, and the water supply is not up to scratch and they will not improve it. This is how they work here in Ireland. The government is no better at all- look at what they did to the M50 tolls. In essence, we are fed up of having less than no money when we pay high taxes already.
What the government hasn’t realised is that when people pay for a service and that service isn’t up to scratch, the 3 Rs come into play. Repair, replace or refund. If they keep dishing out piss, legally, we don’t have to pay a cent
Don’t worry Co.Clare sure as soon as the water meters are in you can now have the luxury and benefit of paying for piss water
My mum lives in Clare, she hasn’t been able to use tap water for years, they gave her a nice shiny new meter recently though, I wonder does it make the water that passes through it better quality
Hang on now, how exactly do they stop algal bloom?? It’s nature ffs
Jesus don’t introduce facts into an argument on the journal. You’ll be vilified forever!!!
Algal blooms are usually caused by nutrient pollution by nitrogen, phosphates from agriculture, intensive animal farming fertilisers and household cleaning products. Climate change is also thought to encourage their progression. Not nature.
Nature? As in farmers polluting de gaff nature?
All the summers as a child and teenager spent having fun on this lake…. Hours each day… Peeing in it all the time like everyone else……. I wonder has this led to the onset of this fungal problem????
Played on the lake during my child hood and pissed in it as well.
And the summers were better back then .
With no bloom on the lake ???? None that we were told about anyway.
I am still drinking the water because it did not kill us back then and it won’t kill us now.
Corofin is my home town. It has only recently had the water filtration and treatment system upgraded/renewed. The issue lies with irresponsible farming practices, and I would ask anyone who spots a farmer spreading slurry during heavy rain to report this to the EPA immediately to prevent further algal bloom from appearing.
The regional office is based in Limerick and you can call them on:
061-224764
You can’t even shower with the stuff??? That’s just shocking
What happened to the earlier article about floride costing each taxpayer a million Euro a week or some tripe. Where is the apology?
tho has pretty much become an annual thing. every August, for as long as I can remember; these notices have been issued.
Another way or having the water changes justified.BOO.
Sorry typo.I meant water CHARGE.
Same thing is happening in lakes in the US – check out GreenPartnerNews for more info if interested
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