Irish obstetricians have heavier workload

Irish obstetricians deliver more than twice as many babies as their counterparts in Britain and Northern Ireland, figures from national health authorities show.

Obstetricians performed over 120 per cent more deliveries than consultants in Scotland, a comparison of births and staffing figures reveals.

Compared to obstetricians in England their caseload is 81 per cent heavier, according to the data. Meanwhile, they perform 61 per cent more deliveries than counterparts in Wales.

The figures appear to bear out the assertions by obstetricians in many Irish hospitals that services are increasingly under strain. Birth rates have dropped only slightly in recent years after spiking during the boom while funding has been reduced.

Substandard premises
The State's two largest maternity hospitals, the Rotunda and the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street, are operating in substandard premises in need of urgent refurbishment while plans to move the capital's three maternity hospitals have been put on ice.

The issue of overcrowding also featured during last week's inquest into the death of Savita Halappanavar in University Hospital Galway, which heard that all of the beds in the maternity ward to which she was admitted were occupied during her stay there last October. A number of nursing staff told the inquest they were very busy as a result.

Earlier this week, the master of the Rotunda, Sam Coulter Smith, said obstetricians were "underfunded, under-resourced and under a huge strain". His hospital had half the number of consultants it required and its infrastructure was "creaking".

Deliveries per consultant
In 2011, Ireland had 125 obstetric consultants, according to HSE figures. That year, there were 74,650 births, giving an average of 597 births per consultant.

In Scotland, 58,791 babies were delivered by 219 consultants in 2010, giving an average of 268 deliveries per consultant.

The number of deliveries per consultant in England in 2011 was 371, while in Wales it was 330.

Obstetrics differs from other areas of medicine in the sense that demand for services can be roughly measured once women present while pregnant.

However, the exact time of a natural delivery cannot be predicted and so there is no option to operate waiting lists.

At busy periods, this means the available staff have to spread themselves more thinly among the patients requiring treatment.