There has been a lot of talk about midwives and St Luke’s Hospital and maternity wards in recent weeks and the news that 10 new midwifery positions have been announced for the hospital is indeed very welcome.
With retirements imminent at the end of the month and a maternity ward already stretched to its limit, it must be a huge relief for women (including me ) who are due to give birth after March 1.
The 10 new midwives will most likely not be in place for when I am due to give birth in mid-March but let us hope that the ward will not be left short-staffed for too long after that.
Currently St Luke’s Hospital midwives deliver 80 babies to every midwife. This is a far cry from the recommendations — according to the INMO statistics, it is recommended that this figure be closer to 30 babies per midwife!
Controversy over tea and toast has also provoked much debate in recent days, with many thinking that the lack of staff available at night time to make new moms a cup of tea is unacceptable. However, more accept that services have been cut and that the priority is the safe delivery of a perfect baby and, if this occurs, you are not too badly off.
Having already had a baby in St Luke’s Hospital, I have to say that the treatment from nurses, doctors, consultants, and midwives was fantastic, and I wouldn’t choose to have my next baby anywhere else. Some women may not have had such a good experience and this is down to several factors, such as a particularly busy day/night on the ward, a shortage of staff or a particularly difficult birth or labour. All of these factors are something that you cannot plan for unless you decide (like me ) to have a planned section. Then all of these fears are set aside as your birth is treated as a surgical procedure which is carefully planned for and dealt with as any other operation would be dealt with at the hospital.
So it is good news for Kilkenny at this point with the announcement that we are getting new staff, but of course this is nothing like what we need. There are 17 retirements at the hospital in all and we can only hope that each of these experienced staff members will be replaced.
The hospital budget has been slashed by approx 20 million in recent years and this leaves no room for manoeuvre. St Luke’s is punished to some extent for being so ‘good’ and we have seen more bed closures per capita than with many other larger hospitals around the country.
There were some good news stories this week in the primary care sector with a new primary care centre opening in Callan and this seems to be the way of the future for healthcare.
The service plan for the region was also published yesterday and sets out very challenging budgets for our health sector.
We can only hope that staff and patients are not the ones to suffer and that people who need quality healthcare get the care that they deserve at a time that they are most vulnerable.
