Petition supporting Domino service to be handed into Cork University Maternity Hospital

The petition is calling for full reinstatement of the Domino scheme.

A petition supporting the Domino maternity support service signed by more than 2,500 people is being handed into Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) on Thursday.

The midwife-led service was used by around 400 women annually. 

Until recently, it offered women the option of seeing the same midwives through pregnancy in community clinics, birth at the hospital, and aftercare delivered in their homes with wraparound supports.

However, CUMH has changed how it works due to staff shortages. 

The change left women fearful the system could be phased out. 

Since this situation emerged earlier this month, the HSE Southwest has agreed to reinstate a 24-hour phone line, it is understood. 

The petition is calling for full reinstatement of the service.

Co-organiser Grace O’Brien is a former CUMH midwife who now offers various maternity support services privately in Cork. 

“We are advocating for the 2,500 women who signed the petition,” she said. 

She described the changes as “so, so disappointing” for women.

“I just can’t make sense of it because it is actually the most cost-effective approach,” she said.

“I know they’re short-staffed; they’re 80 staff down, but they’re literally robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is redeploying midwives who actually decongested the hospital because the women went home early.” 

Up to Wednesday evening, the petition had been signed by 2,555 people on the platform Change.org. 

One woman commented: “I’m having my third baby with Domino midwives any day now and I absolutely love the support at such an unpredictable time.” 

The issue has been raised in the Dáil and discussed by Cork City Council in a cross-party show of support.

Social Democrats health spokesman Pádraig Rice said it is being “cut to the bone” when instead it should be expanded.

“The changes that we’re seeing here could fundamentally alter the Domino scheme,” he warned in the Dáil this month.

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Labour city councillor Ciara O’ Connor was told the dedicated phone line was reinstated a few days ago and welcomed this as a positive step.

However, she said: “We still need a clear timeline for the full restoration of the service and assurances this won’t happen again.” 

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation previously warned that the busy hospital is struggling with an estimated 80 vacancies.