After a week of farce and frustration, the first mothers and babies arrived at Cork University Maternity Hospital for the birth of a new era in maternity care, writes Catherine Shanahan

WITHIN 24 hours of its opening, 15 babies had been born at the country’s newest maternity hospital.

APPROXIMATELY 200 outpatient appointments at the country’s newest maternity hospital have had to be cancelled because the hospital failed to open on schedule at the weekend.

TODAY has long been earmarked as a landmark day for maternity services in Cork.