INMO release damning report on maternity units

The maternity unit in Portlaoise Hospital is the most understaffed unit in the country, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

The INMO carried out a survey of midwives and found that no maternity service has the internationally recommended midwife-to-birth ratio.

The ratio currently varies from one midwife to 30 births, rising to one midwife to 55 births in some units.

The internationally recommended ratio is 1 to 29.5 births.

A report into the Midlands Regional Hospital, Portlaoise – after four babies died there – found that maternity care was not safe or sustainable.