The Mid Western Health Board has apologised to the parents of new-born twin babies who were separated from their mother because the Limerick hospital where they were born could not provide adequate neo-natal care.
The babies, who were born prematurely and delivered by Caesarean section, were brought to Erinville Hospital in Cork yesterday after a consultant at the Limerick Regional Maternity Hospital decided they needed intensive nursing which was not available at the overcrowded neo-natal unit.
At the time of the births of Michael and Kate, early on Tuesday morning, there were 28 babies in a unit staffed to cater for an average of 19, the health board said in a statement yesterday.
Five of these babies required assistance with breathing, and the consultant, Dr Tom Stack, judged that because Michael and Kate were one month premature and had slight respiratory difficulties they required a similar level of nursing. However, the specially-trained nursing staff was not available and the twins had to be moved.
"The board has apologised to the parents of the twins for any distress caused and said that medical staff had acted throughout in the best interest of the babies, who are described as doing very well in Cork," the statement read.
Speaking on Morning Ireland on RTE radio yesterday, the twins' mother, Ms Annette Gabbett, from Mungret in Co Limerick, expressed distress at being separated from her new-born babies during their first days. An offer to travel with the babies had been made but had not been taken up because she has four other children in Limerick and is still recovering from the Caesarean section.
According to Dr Kevin Kelleher, Director of Public Health with the Mid Western Health Board, this kind of situation occurs once or twice a year at the hospital.
He said the number of births in the mid-west had increased significantly in recent years, and there had been a dramatic increase in the number of multiple births and births by Caesarean section. This had led to a greater demand on neo-natal facilities.
The Labour Party spokeswoman on health and children, Ms Roisin Shortall TD, criticised the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Cowen, and described it as "an appalling incident".
"It is hard to understand why at a time of unprecedented economic growth, our hospital service is starved of resources and in many cases cannot deal with the basic health care need of patients," she said.
Ms Noreen Byrne of the National Women's Council of Ireland said the council wished to express its "absolute disgust" at the failure of the health system to provide enough staff to care for the babies in Limerick.
A Mid Western Health Board meeting to discuss a review of maternity and early child health services had already been scheduled and is to go ahead tomorrow. The board said the Department of Health was allocating extra funding to the region because of the increasing births.