Big and small hospitals link up in new model for maternity care

Leo Varadkar, the health minister, says there are no plans to close any of the 19 maternity units across the country.

“It is not proposed to close any of them,” he said when he launched Ireland’s first national maternity strategy yesterday.

It was developed following a number of baby deaths at Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, and the death of Savita Halappanavar at University College Galway in October 2012 following a miscarriage.