Partner access in maternity hospitals
Deputy Higgins raised the distress of pregnant women attending scans and labour alone and questioned whether antigen testing could help reopen access. The Taoiseach agreed greater facility should now exist and said he would continue engagement with the HSE, including on possible PCR testing.
Right now, pregnant women in maternity hospitals across the country are going through appointments, scans and the early stages of labour on their own. If one walks past any maternity hospital, one will witness tearful goodbyes as pregnant women, in one of the most nerve-racking experiences of their life, leave their partner and enter the hospital without the security or the comfort of having a loved one by their side. It is truly heart-wrenching.
Last week, the HSE informed me in reply to a parliamentary question that antigen testing is not being considered as a means of safely easing maternity restrictions. However, a women's health clinic in Kerry is offering antigen testing to the partners of pregnant women. We know it can be done. We are not in the same situation we were when hospital restrictions first came in. Developments mean women can be treated with more compassion. I ask the Taoiseach please to work with the HSE to ensure that is done.
Comment on this
As I said earlier, I agree with the Deputy. I will continue to engage with the HSE on this. These are clinical decisions that have been taken from the outset of the pandemic but, given the success to date within the hospital environment in suppressing the virus and the success of the vaccination programme, greater facility should now exist for expectant mothers to be accompanied by their partners to scans and throughout the journey. Even if PCR testing needs to be used, the capacity exists for that.