‘Independent midwives need hospital test access’
Dr Brian Farrell told Dublin City Coroner’s Court yesterday he would write to the Department of Health, the HSE and An Bord Altranais with a view to establishing guidelines which would allow independent midwives to access facilities, such as scans and blood tests, for their patients at maternity hospitals.
Currently, independent midwives, of which there are about 18, advise their clients to seek the scans and tests independently at hospital, without their support.
The coroner spoke at an inquest into the death of Chuck Long, a stillborn baby delivered at the Rotunda Hospital on December 5, 2005. The inquest heard the baby died from a lack of oxygen in the womb.
When the mother, Tanya Long, presented at the Rotunda on December 1 after feeling no movement from the baby for more than a day, an ultrasound confirmed he had died.
According to the hospital, the expected date of delivery was between November 13 and 19. Master of the Rotunda Dr Michael Geary told the inquest hospital policy is to refer women for scans once they are 10 to 12 days overdue. But the midwife, Kate Spillane, had calculated Ms Long’s due date as November 21, later revised to November 23.
When Ms Long called Ms Spillane on November 26 to say her partner was worried as the baby had not been born, Ms Spillane advised her to go to the Rotunda to have the baby checked.
The court heard she had attended the Rotunda for a scan in May and would receive attention if she went without her midwife.
As the baby was moving as much as usual, Ms Long decided not to attend as she did not want to “run the risk of being induced”.
On a visit to Ms Long on November 29, Ms Spillane found the baby’s heartbeat was good. As she would allow a fortnight past due date if heartbeat and movements were good before considering alternative action, she had no reason to be concerned. But on November 30 Ms Long called Ms Spillane and said she could not feel the baby move.
Ms Spillane told the coroner she “felt inhibited” from ringing the hospital.
“If she (Ms Long) disclosed the fact that she was seeing me, (the hospital) would not have wanted to see her. The hospital’s policy was that it is one or the other — the hospital or the domiciliary midwife.”
Dr Geary told the court he regretted the situation whereby midwives are unable to access bloods or scans at hospitals.
The coroner said he would write to State bodies with regard to establishing recommendations and guidelines to allow midwives access such services.
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