Public servants must honour contracts amid maternity care row, says Simon Harris
Over 68% of consultants have signed up to a public-only contract, latest HSE figures show.The contract, which has a salary scale of €238,221 to €286,151 plus allowances, allows consultants to undertake private work off-site for a limited number of hours.Professor Sean Daly, master of the Rotunda maternity hospital, said last week that its consultants can still carry out private pregnancy care, describing it as an issue of women’s choices.In response to the Rotunda’s situation, the HSE issued an organisation-wide circular on Friday focused on the need to comply with the contractual obligations.Mr Harris said on Wednesday that he is very conscious of the importance of women’s choice in healthcare, particularly in relation to reproductive care.“But also, there's obligations around the contract here, and people have signed up to the contract.” Mr Harris said there is no private maternity hospital in Ireland — a “peculiarity” within the health service."Terms and contracts do matter, and consistent application of that matters too," he said.“But standards matter in our maternity services, and we're investing a massive amount in maternity care in Ireland, including the development of a new national maternity hospital on the site of St Vincent’s, the co-located hospital. "We have the national maternity strategy.“We have rightly invested a lot in women's health care in Ireland over the last number of years. It's really important.
The relationship between a woman and her doctor is crucial, and at no time perhaps more crucial than at the time of pregnancy.
“It's very important that this doesn't become in any way sort of a divisive conversation in relation to that.”Labour health spokeswoman Marie Sherlock called for “properly-resourced public maternity services” now that private care is being phased out.She urged that “the discussion around maternity choice must not be reduced to a question of who can afford to pay for additional services or who can navigate an overstretched public system."Real choice means ensuring women have access to a full range of high-quality maternity options.” She pointed to limited access to home births and Domino midwifery-led schemes as examples of "where the Government has failed to provide meaningful choice".
Domino schemes are midwife-led services involving hospital births followed by early discharge and care at home.Ms Sherlock said: “These service gaps must be addressed if women are to have genuine choice in maternity care.” She called on the Rotunda to be clear about its position on the consultants issue. "It is a fundamental principle of Sláintecare that publicly funded hospital facilities should move towards providing public healthcare only and should not subsidise private healthcare," she said.
Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent
