The Mid-Western Health Board has been accused of being so entrenched on staying within its budget that it is allowing dangerously low staffing levels to persist at its main maternity hospital in Limerick.
The claim was made yesterday by the Irish Nurses Organisation which said there was just one staff midwife and one student midwife caring for up to 30 patients at night at the Mid-West Regional Maternity Hospital.
The health board said yesterday it had sought funds from the Department of Health to employ extra staff.
INO industrial relations officer Mr Edward Mathews said staffing levels were so inadequate that safe care cannot be provided to mothers and babies in all areas.
"This situation results wholly from the Mid-Western Health Board's wish to accede to pressures from the Department of Health and Children rather than providing safe care to the people they serve," he said.
The INO has sought an emergency meeting with health board management to demand an increase in midwifery staffing levels.
The health board, in a statement, said it had conducted a review of services at the hospital and a comprehensive report was submitted to the Department of Health in the past year outlining priority needs in terms of capital investment and "the increased staffing needs associated with the rise in births in this region over recent years. A reply on this is awaited".
In the meantime the board said it had appointed an additional 18 midwives, in addition to other staff, to address the deficits identified. It was "simply untrue" to suggest it was ignoring the issue, it said.
Last week the INO claimed mothers and babies at Wexford General Hospital were also being put at risk by low staffing levels.