Group fights loss of maternity services

Women in Monaghan are awaiting a hearing date for a judicial review following a local lobby group's decision to challenge the…

Women in Monaghan are awaiting a hearing date for a judicial review following a local lobby group's decision to challenge the closure of maternity services in Monaghan General Hospital by the North Eastern Health Board (NEHB) last February.

The Monaghan General Hospital Development Committee claims the health board has been trying to run down the hospital since Mr Barry Desmond's tenure as Minister for Health in the 1980s - a claim the board insists is untrue.

It is understood that five women availing of the Monaghan obstetric service have sworn affidavits and that the health board has also submitted affidavits to support its case.

A date for the hearing in the High Court has not been set but it is expected it will be dealt with soon, sources said this week.

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The health board temporarily suspended obstetric services last February after a review of the services provided in four of its five hospitals was, in part, rejected by board members. The review, established in September, 1998, reported in November last year.

The report's recommendations included the immediate closure of consultant-led maternity services in Monaghan and Dundalk. The group found the provision of such services was no longer viable, based on recommendations from the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Maternity services in Monaghan and Dundalk consisted of staff obstetricians with no outpatient back-up. An average of 300 babies a year were being delivered at Monaghan hospital, with just over 500 delivered in Dundalk. Up to 1,000 were delivered each year at Cavan hospital, with Drogheda delivering some 2,500.

The organisations recommend about 1,000 deliveries a year are required to maintain skills and provide the basis for teaching in a maternity unit, the report said.

As the provision of a high quality, consultant-led service required a minimum of three obstetrician gynaecologists, paediatricians and anaesthetists with appropriate back-up and midwifery staffing, it concluded the number of deliveries in Dundalk or Monaghan was not sufficient to support consultant-led services.

The report recommended that a pilot centre for midwifery-led obstetric services be established in Dundalk. It also said the early expansion of consultant numbers in one or both of the remaining units from two to four per centre must be a priority.

In light of the rejection of the review, the board agreed to establish a committee under the aegis of Comhairle na nOspideal to examine the recommendations of the original review group.

This committee's report is due before the September meeting of the NEHB. A spokesman for the Monaghan General Hospital Development Committee said there had been no investment in the hospital since the 1980s and the board was attempting to run it down.

In 1983, local people raised money to take a case against the then health minister, Mr Desmond, when he proposed the closure of the maternity unit.

The High Court at that time held the unit could not be closed. The committee has again sought to challenge the closure of the maternity service in Monaghan and claims pregnant women have been inconvenienced since the closure in February.

It has begun fundraising in the local community to cover the cost of taking the judicial review application.

A spokesman for the NEHB said he could not comment on the matter as it was before the courts. However, he said that in the absence of full obstetric services at Dundalk and Monaghan the board was continuing to provide excellent antenatal, postnatal and gynaecological services at both hospitals. Full services were also provided at Cavan and Drogheda.