‘Women not being heard’: Concerns raised over gaps in Irish maternity care

In Ireland, Krysia Lynch, an advocate for maternity care with 20 years’ experience, said this was difficult reading. File picture

Many gaps in maternity care identified by a recent hard-hitting review in England can also be seen in under-pressure Irish services, a maternity expert has warned.

Gaps in English maternity care were highlighted by Valerie Amos in her interim report published recently.

She warned of families not being heard, failures being repeated without learning, a reluctance to admit mistakes, and serious staffing shortages.

In Ireland, Krysia Lynch, an advocate for maternity care with 20 years’ experience, said this was difficult reading.

She pointed out that it is now ten years since the Irish maternity strategy was first published, but gaps in care persist.

“The first thing I thought of when she says the same problems keep coming up again is Portiuncula (maternity hospital),” she said.

“Why did nothing change? We were told it was all going to change.” 

When errors arise, she said: “you still need to have a lot of acquired knowledge to know what to ask, who to ask and how to ask.” 

She added: “One of Baroness Amos’ themes is listening to women.

“When women here are saying ‘they don’t want to have interventions or they do want to breastfeed’ they’re not being listened to, or the words might go in but there’s no support for them. They’re not being heard.” 

She remains concerned that communication gaps leave “very much a ‘them and us’ situation”.

She said: “We still, to the best of my knowledge, do not admit mistakes because anything could go to court at any point. We still have huge payouts for our maternity cases.” 

Overall, she said gaps in understanding persist.

“You need the outside-in and the inside-out to work together; you need the doctor to trust the patients and the patient to trust the doctor or the midwife,” she said.

Ms Lynch called for a similar review of Irish services, noting that other advocates also called for this when the Amos investigation was announced.

“There should be a review of the maternity services based on people’s experiences,” she urged.

She questioned the impact of previous patient experience surveys, suggesting: “myself and many advocates would feel negative things raised by women didn’t rise to the surface enough.” 

The Amos review also flagged alerts from the MBRRACE data system around negative outcomes for pregnant women from minority groups.

“We are part of the same MBRRACE study-area. So when they say if you’re Black you’re three times more likely to die that includes Ireland,” Ms Lynch said.