Yesterday the HSE published a report into care provided to a number of women and babies at Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe. The expert group strongly recommended a review into the way maternity services are delivered across the country.
People Before Profit representative for Galway East, Andrew Mannion said
“The HSE have today confirmed the rumours that have been circulating in Ballinasloe recently with the announcement that "high-risk" maternity services will be moving out of Portiuncula University Hospital to Galway University Hospital and other maternity units in the region”.
“In typical HSE fashion, it is using an axe rather than a scalpel to deal with the recent reviews into maternity services in the hospital after, tragically, babies were lost or required specialist care in other units after birth”.
“Pushing hundreds of extra expecting parents to already over-crowded and under-staffed hospitals in Galway City and the Midlands is a sure-fire way to bring about similar tragedies to those experienced in Portiuncula”.
“The HSE are jumping at the chance to push the blame onto their own over-worked staff and under-resourced hospitals instead of reckoning with the abject failure of the 'Pay & Numbers Strategy' and their inability to recruit and retain staff at safe levels”.
“This move will negatively affect the hospitals and workers where services will be moved to, workers in Portiuncula, and, most importantly, the patients who rely on Portiuncula as one of the biggest hospitals outside of major cities”.
“The people of Ballinasloe have had to fight against the downgrading of our hospital before and we will have to take the same action again to reverse this move. The HSE claims that this isn't a wind-down of services, but their track record on keeping promises and being truly transparent is lacking to say the least”.
“Workers can learn from the reviews in light of recent tragedies but they have to be given a fair chance to do so by the HSE, not just have services cut as an easy cost-cutting for the HSE”.