Yesterday marked a momentous moment as the government launched the Republic's first maternity strategy which will be delivered through a new National Women & Infants’ Health Programme
The introduction of the plan, which is set to span the next ten years, comes following intense criticism of the State's maternity services, and ultimately aims to improve and standardise the safety and quality of care across all units.
Hoping to restore confidence in State services, the government created a plan comprised of four distinct priorities which they will implement while creating a partnership approach with expectant mothers.
Speaking at yesterday's launch, Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, said: "I am delighted to launch the country’s first National Maternity Strategy. It was my privilege to present it to Government for approval." (sic)
The minister referenced efforts made thus far to address certain issues regarding the standard of care provided to pregnant women, and asserted that the new plan will work towards building on those initial efforts.
"This Government has made considerable investment in our maternity services in recent years and the Strategy provides further evidence of our very firm commitment to the development and improvement of services," he explained.
The plan, which was drafted by a 31-member Steering Group, aims to adopt a health and wellbeing approach in order to provide infants with the best start in life and provide women with access to safe, high-quality, nationally consistent, woman-centred maternity care.
Further to this, the plan pledges to recognise pregnancy and birth as a normal physiological process, and insofar as it is safe to do so, facilitate a woman’s choice in pregnancy and childbirth,while appropriately managing maternity units with the help of strong and effective leadership and management in partnership with pregnant women.
It has also been established that women and their families will be offered choices about their maternity care which will be classified as either normal-risk, medium-risk or high-risk, before having their care provided by a specific team.
Commenting on the implementation of the plan, Mr. Varadkar continued: "It sets out a vision of maternity services that is about safety, quality and choice, and that places women very firmly at the centre of the service. I will advocate for it and work for its full implementation. In fact, we’ve already started."
According to the plan, they aim to see a future where "women and babies have access to safe, high quality care in a setting that is most appropriate to their needs; women and families are placed at the centre of all services, and are treated with dignity, respect and compassion; and parents are supported before, during and after pregnancy to allow them give their child the best possible start in life."
The plan will be finalised within six months of the publication of the Strategy.
