Midwife exodus ‘putting lives at risk’

Doctors working in the country’s maternity services have warned of a threat to the lives of mothers and babies if a predicted exodus of midwives, in an effort to avoid pension cuts, takes place next month.

Dr Sam Coulter Smith, master of the Rotunda, one of the country’s biggest maternity hospitals, said their midwife/patient ratios were already severely compromised.

“You reach a point when you can’t stretch the service any further, and we are at that point now,” he told the Irish Examiner.