Maternity Services

Order of Business

Senator Ivana Bacik: I ask the Deputy Leader for a debate on maternity services. Speakers have called for debates on other aspects of the health services but it is important for us to focus on the state of maternity services in our hospitals. I met last week with an organisation called the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services - Ireland, a group formed last year by mothers dissatisfied with the services they had encountered in hospitals. They are a consumer-led campaign group, the members of which I understand have already met the Minister and who are prioritising, in particular, the publication of annual clinical reports and statistics on maternity hospitals. It is appalling that in 2008 we still do not have full statistics, for example, on rates of induction and Caesarian sections across our hospitals. Such a proper reporting system would also help us to pick up on serious deviations from the norm and bring about prevention of future appalling tragedies like the Dr. Neary tragedy. The creation of national guidelines for clinical practice in maternity care is another priority for the association. We should have a debate on that and on a national independent auditing body for maternity services.

We would do better in this House if we debated positive steps to improve maternity and reproductive health services rather than spending our time criticising and sniping at independent experts who have been appointed by the Government to deal with issues such as the bioethics issue addressed earlier. We should not impugn the integrity and independence of such experts simply because some Members do not like the results or outcome of their research. I do not believe there is such a word as “independability”. That amounts to impugning the integrity of experts and we should be cautious before we do that.