It is 'unconscionable' to make private maternity patients feel 'guilty or privileged', committee to hear 

master of the Rotunda Hospital Sean Daly will address the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday 

The minister and the master of the Rotunda Hospital were at loggerheads after it emerged that consultants who had signed up to the public-only contract were conducting private practice in the Rotunda.  Picture: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

It is “unconscionable” that women have been made to feel “guilty or privileged” for seeking private maternity care, the master of Dublin's Rotunda Hospital is expected to say on Wednesday.

The comments, to be made by Professor Sean Daly at the Oireachtas Health Committee meeting, are perceived as a dig at health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.

The minister and the master of the Rotunda Hospital were at loggerheads after it emerged that consultants who had signed up to the public-only contract were conducting private practice in the Rotunda.

Mr Daly confirmed earlier this month that practice was being stopped, but said that he would not draw a line under the matter.

In his opening statement to the committee, Mr Daly will say that the last six weeks have been a “particularly challenging time” for the Rotunda, its staff, and its patients.

“What occurred over the past few weeks, where women were made feel guilty or privileged for having made certain choices, was unconscionable,” he will say.

“There have also been many misconceptions propagated over the last number of weeks, and I can assure the committee that there is no consultant working in the Rotunda who does not fulfil their commitments to the provision of public care before undertaking any care for private patients.”

Mr Daly is also expected to say to TDs and senators that the “safety and standard of care given to every woman in the Rotunda, public or private, is identical”.

“Nothing about a woman's safe care has ever been predicated on whether she was public or private,” he will say.

This is despite Mr Daly telling the committee in late May that public-only consultant contracts were offering private service because it was “primarily about safety for women and women's choice”.

He will say today that there are still “two larger questions” that remain unsolved on the issue. This, he will argue, includes choice in the absence of any private maternity hospital in the State.

The second, he will say, focuses on resourcing, with just 3.85 obstetrics and gynaecology consultants for every hundred thousand women in Ireland.

“The issue of continuity of care has been raised over recent weeks, and it is more challenging in the public setting due to the ratio of doctors and midwives to pregnant women,” Mr Daly will say.

• Louise Burne is Political Correspondent.