Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 November 2024
1074. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Health in respect of the 2022 Women’s Health Action Plan, if he will report on his Department’s achievement of the maternal health goal of fully funding the National Maternity Strategy. [44222/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraProgressing women's health continues to be a top priority for this Government.
A revised implementation plan for the National Maternity Strategy was published in November 2021. The revised Plan set out all remaining activity in relation to the implementation of the Strategy within the timeframe 2022-2026. The remainder of the Strategy’s implementation was then costed at approximately €43.7m.
€27.7m in new development funding has been directed through the Strategy from 2016-2025 with €16 million of this investment provided by this Government in 2021 and 2022. This investment has provided more than 500 whole time equivalent medical professionals, supporting our maternity services.
Investment of €2m announced for Budget 2025 (with a Full Year Cost of €4m in 2026) will ensure the continued implementation of the Strategy into 2025 and beyond. The priorities covered by Budget 2025 funding include:
• Additional Specialist Midwives to enhance women’s access to midwife-led care.
• Driving improvements in the safety of our maternity services through research, audit and new clinical guidelines.
• Recruiting more genetic counsellors and supporting staff to expand a new National Perinatal Genomics Service; evaluating, diagnosing, managing and treating anomalies before birth.
• Delivering 4 new Postnatal Hubs, to provide women with access to postnatal care in the community and away from a hospital environment.
Further funding of €0.45 million (€1.87 million Full Year Cost) has been provided in 2024 through the Women’s Health Taskforce for an additional 4 Postnatal Hubs. With five hubs operating, funding in 2025 will expand the national network to 13 Postnatal Hubs.
Combined investment through the Strategy and also through the eHealth Capital Plan is driving the roll-out of the Maternity and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS), which is a fully Electronic Health Record. The MN-CMS is currently live in 4 sites, covering 40% of births nationally. The system is being rolled out to the remaining standalone maternity hospitals to cover 70% of births nationally and 60.5% of Neonatal Intensive Care Activity. Additional funding of €4.4 million has been allocated for this expansion through the eHealth and ICT Capital Plan 2024.
Funding has also been directed through the Women's Health Taskforce and Women's Health Fund to support maternity initiatives, including €0.5 million to support the recruitment of Medical Social Workers in maternity units, over €1.3 million since 2022 to open Postnatal Hubs, and €1.3 million to establish a National Perinatal Genomics Service. Almost €1 million has been invested to develop community based Women's Health Hubs.
Funding has also been directed through the health and wellbeing programme throughout the Strategy period supporting progress against Strategy actions. In Budget 2025, almost €1 million is being invested to further enhance breastfeeding supports, including five new lactation consultant posts, and the provision of additional breast pumps for mothers of critically ill and pre-term infants, enabling them to provide breastmilk for their babies while they stay in hospital for extended periods.
This Government has invested in women's mental health services including perinatal mental health, for which funding has been directed through mental health services. To date this programme has received funding of €5.2m. We have also overseen unprecedented levels of investment across other supporting women's health services, including gynaecology, endometriosis services, and screening and menopause supports.
Following the implementation of the initiatives that have been funded in 2024-5, the HSE's National Women and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP) will assess any actions that may be outstanding as the Strategy enters its final two years. NWIHP have advised that to date 94% of actions are either completed or in progress. All of these developments, delivered under the Strategy, are supporting improved choice for women and driving safe, high quality, nationally consistent, woman-centred maternity care.
