Maternity staffing and health planning
Senator Burke supports a health-service debate, discusses shortcomings identified at Portlaoise Hospital and cites long-standing shortages in obstetrics and gynaecology. He calls for immediate long-term planning as births have risen without corresponding increases in maternity staffing.
It is important to respond to what has been said about the health services. I would welcome a debate on the matter. All information on health services needs to be available. I ask the House to understand what the Government inherited. I have gone through the Portlaoise hospital report. In fairness, some patients were not given adequate care. Certainly, the treatment provided for them was not at all consistent with the proper manner in which they should have been looked after. I think the report deals comprehensively with that issue. I remind Senator Darragh O'Brien that during his party's term in office, the number of deliveries in Portlaoise hospital increased from slightly over 1,000 to approximately 2,300 without any increase in staffing levels. That is the reality. We are now dealing with that issue.
Comment on this
Perhaps the Senator might support my amendment to the Order of Business.
Comment on this
I remind the Senator that according to the 2003 Hanly report on maternity services, there were 93 obstetrics and gynaecology consultants in HSE hospitals at the time. The report recommended that there should be 190 people in such roles by 2012, but the reality is that there was no real change in the period from 2003 to 2011. The number of births increased from 61,500 in 2003 to 75,500 in 2009 without any increase in staffing levels in maternity hospitals. We are now having to deal with that issue. It is important for the future that we immediately start to engage in long-term planning, which is one of the things that is lacking in the health service. I would certainly welcome a debate on the matter.