Nurses being used to cover for shortage of midwives, says union

NURSES are being used to prevent a crisis in midwifery care at some of the country’s largest maternity hospitals, the Irish Nursing Organisation said yesterday.

General Secretary of the INO Liam Doran said the shortage of midwives, which had been particularly acute over the last 12 months, was getting worse and nurses were being employed in the main maternity areas in an effort to offset the shortage.

"For the first time, more than one maternity hospital has been unable to fill their student midwife training places. This means the shortage will be exacerbated in the future," Mr Doran warned.

He blamed the failure to attract trainee midwives on the Department of Finance's decision "not to pay them correctly for their level of training".

"To become a midwife you have to drop 3,000 in money despite the extra training. The Department of Finance has refused to acknowledge the reality that this is the reason for the drop in the numbers applying to be midwives. They are choosing to ignore the problem instead," Mr Doran said.

He said that trying to maintain a quality maternity service at a time of rising birth rates while refusing to lift the cap on hiring new staff was impossible.

"Maternity hospitals have to be allowed extra resources if the birth rates are rising and staff are looking after more and more patients, otherwise standards drop."

Master of Maternity at the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street in Dublin Dr Declan Keane said the birth rate was up almost 6% on this time last year putting the hospital on track to deliver more than 8,600 babies. Last year was the first time in 20 years that more than 8,000 babies were born there.

He said the high birth rate coupled with poor staffing levels was compromising patient care.

Master of Maternity at the Coombe Hospital Dr Sean Daly said they were also looking at a record year with the number of births up 4% on this time last year. The Coombe delivered 7,500 babies last year. Dr Daly, however, was happy with the level of midwife cover at the Coombe.

Midwives at Wexford General Hospital have voted in favour of industrial action over poor staffing levels. Two reports commissioned by the South Eastern Health Board said midwife staffing was "unsafe" and an extra 11 midwives were needed to cope with demand. At night, two midwives must attend an average of six births.