Rotunda sending mums-to-be to hotel

A BABY boom at the country’s second largest maternity hospital has forced management to put up expectant mothers in a nearby hotel.

The Rotunda Hospital, Dublin, is sending low-risk expectant mothers across the road to sleep in Jury’s Inn, on Parnell Street.

In need of facilities, the hospital cannot cope with a high number of births.

In August alone, there were 830 births in the hospital compared to 550 last year.

Overall, there has been a 14% rise in births this year.

Hospital master Michael Geary said the area around the hospital, north Dublin, had seen a 22% rise in population in recent years.

“We never turn anybody away,” he said.

No mothers at risk of going into labour and only those needing daily tests are being sent to Jury’s Inn. Nurses do not visit the hotel and patients are assisted by security crossing the road.

Family could also stay with expectant mothers.

The risk of noise from the hotel bar and lobby was offset by a block of three rooms, handpicked by hospital staff, said the Rotunda’s master.

The arrangement was “sensible and safe,” he added.

Health chiefs last night announced the Dublin’s three maternity hospitals were facing massive pressures.

Holles Street, the Coombe and the Rotunda were facing an “unprecedented level of demand,” the Health Service Executive said.

“Short-term initiatives” were being used to cope with large numbers of births, it said. In the Rotunda, these include 14 extra midwives, expanding the emergency ward and early discharge arrangements involving community midwifery teams.

But patient support groups were shocked by expectant mothers having to stay outside a hospital.

Janette Byrne with Patients Together said a nurse had blown the whistle on the arrangement.

Ms Byrne was “appalled” the health service had reached the stage were there was “no room at the inn”.

Health chiefs would not reveal the cost of using the hotel rooms. Rooms at the 253-bed hotel cost around €150 a night, before meals.

But Master Michael Geary last night defended the temporary accommodation.

No hospital equipment is on site at Jury’s Inn and patients are being offered double rooms. So far, two expectant mothers have used the hotel but the rooms will be hired for another few weeks, explained the hospital chief.

Normal insurance cover was also in place, he added.

Last month, the HSE ruled out allowing multi-million euro plans for a hotel on the grounds of St James’s Hospital under the controversial co-location projects.