Eight patients at Rotunda opt to continue private care with different doctor

The Rotunda Hospital row led to the health minister indicating that State funding could be removed from the hospital unless consultants on a new public-only contract stopped offering private maternity care. File picture: Billy Higgins

Eight patients at Dublin's Rotunda maternity hospital affected by the dispute over consultants’ working conditions have opted to continue private care with a different doctor.

Up until Monday the hospital had allowed consultants on a new public-only contract to continue offering private maternity care. However, this is not provided under Sláintecare reforms and sparked a public row with the HSE and health minister. 

It led to the minister indicating that State funding could be removed from the hospital unless this was rescinded. 

A hospital spokesman said on Tuesday that eight women were affected. “They have all been communicated with,” he said. “All have opted to remain as private patients and have transferred their remaining care to a non-public-only contract consultant.” 

The phasing-in of this contract across all specialities means all private care is being removed from public hospitals. While other care can still be accessed privately in private hospitals, there is no private maternity hospital in Ireland.

The contract is the only option for newly appointed doctors, while those in their roles before 2023 can choose to remain on older contracts that allow some private work on-site.

In the Dáil, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said a “lot was at stake” due to the Rotunda row. He said health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill was worried about the operation of the public-only consultant contract across the health service.

He said private maternity care in Ireland is “not sustainable”, noting that babies born in private hospitals such as the Bon Secours in Cork are sent to public hospitals to avail of a neonatal unit.

“The patients should be refunded, because this should not have happened in the first instance,” said Mr Martin. “These contracts were transparently signed up by all concerned, including the hospitals, in terms of service-level agreement.” 

The Bon Secours maternity unit in Cork closed in 2007 along with other small maternity units in the city due to centralisation of maternity care at the new Cork University Maternity Hospital.

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Earlier on Tuesday, Professor Sean Daly, master of the Rotunda, said: “I don’t really want to draw a line under it, I think there have been many issues raised during the last few weeks that need to be explored further.” 

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 in the wake of the board’s decision to change course late on Monday, he said: “And in the board’s statement, they did say they would welcome dialogue. 

"Is this decision unanimous? It is and I believe it was taken for the right reasons and that was we were not to go do anything to jeopardise patient safety.” 

He said the hospital needs more midwives if more personalised care is to be offered to the 8,600 babies born at the hospital last year. Prof. Daly insisted that continuing to offer private obstetric care is about choice for women.

He also said Ms Carroll MacNeill was “incredibly supportive” of the hospital during issues relating to planning for the new critical care wing.

Prof. Daly also acknowledged his grief following the death of his father at the weekend, saying he had received "incredible care" in a hospice and at Tallaght University Hospital.

Ms Carroll MacNeill welcomed the Rotunda board’s move to row back on its private care offering. She said the board is "to bring its arrangements into line with Government policy and the terms of the public-only consultant contract".

She added: “All of us, together, can now focus on continuing to deliver the very best care for all women and their babies and implement reforms that strengthen our public health service for all."