Maternity 12-hour plan to be ‘optional’

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) has moved to assure women that it does not intend to compulsorily force new mothers out of maternity hospitals 12 hours after giving birth.

Its statement follows comments by HSE chief executive Brendan Drumm at his breakfast meeting with TDs, and reported by Labour Party deputy leader Joan Burton, where he said he wanted to move towards a model where mothers left hospital 12 hours after delivery.

In a statement yesterday a HSE spokesman said an Early Transfer Home Programme (ETHP) had been successful in Holles Street and they were “raising the possibility” of having the optional scheme extended to other maternity hospitals.