Minister for Health announces Budget 2025 investment for the National Maternity Strategy 2016-2025
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From: Department of Health
- Published on: 11 October 2024
- Last updated on: 14 October 2024
The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has announced €2 million in new development funding for the continued implementation of the National Maternity Strategy in 2025, with a full-year cost of €4 million in 2026.
The National Maternity Strategy aims to deliver safe, woman-centred maternity services to provide improved choice for women nationwide.
The new funding under Budget 2025 will provide for:
- 47 additional full time specialist staff to increase national coverage of new genetics and postnatal support services, as well as to drive improvements in maternity research and clinical practice
- €0.9 million to open four new Postnatal Hubs, to provide more women with access to postnatal care in the community
- €0.5 million for additional specialist midwives
- €0.3 million to recruit five additional genetic counsellors and three supporting staff, to expand the new National Perinatal Genomics Service
- €0.3 million to drive improvements in our maternity services through research, audit and new clinical guidelines
Minister Donnelly said:
"Improving women’s healthcare is a priority for me and for this government. I am determined that Budget 2025 funding will build on the significant progress already made to date in the development and improvement of maternity services for women, babies and families.
"Since the launch of the National Maternity Strategy in 2016, our maternity services have undergone significant reform, including the recruitment of over 500 additional full-time staff, implementation of a new Model of Care, the establishment of six maternity networks and a National Home Birth Service as well as specialist supports including bereavement teams and lactation specialists in all maternity services.
"The National Maternity Experience Survey has shown us that improving postnatal care in the community is a priority for women. That is why, since 2022, I have directed significant investment into the establishment of a national network of Postnatal Hubs that provide essential care for women in the community in the weeks after birth. Budget 2025 will provide an additional four Hubs, bringing the national network to 13. I know from women who have attended this service how much they value the additional support, including hotlines, birth reflections, and physiotherapy.
"Budget 2025 funding will also provide for the delivery of our National Perinatal Genomics service, funding five additional genetic counsellors in order to improve women’s access to critical genetic testing and support.
"These improvements are part of an ongoing evolution in the provision of women’s healthcare in Ireland and I am committed to continuing this work to drive further reforms."
Director of the National Women and Infants Health Programme Kilian McGrane said:
"This is very welcome additional investment for the implementation of the National Maternity Strategy. This investment in 2025 and 2026 will ensure that the recommendations around research and audit, rollout out of the framework for perinatal genetics, with counsellors to support the consultant geneticists; further expansion of postnatal hubs, providing important wraparound care to women and babies in the early phase after they are discharged from hospital; and critically additional investment for specialist midwives for areas such as epilepsy and recurrent miscarriage can be further advanced."
Notes
The National Maternity Strategy - Creating a Better Future Together 2016 - 2026 was published in January 2016 and has delivered significant improvements in the delivery of national maternity policy to fundamentally change how maternity care is delivered.
The Strategy identifies four strategic priorities:
1. A health and wellbeing approach.
2. Safe, high-quality, nationally-consistent, woman-centred care.
3. Facilitation of a woman’s choice through the development of a new model of maternity care with three care pathways, Supported Care, Assisted Care and Specialised Care, depending on individual need.
4. Strong governance and an appropriately resourced skilled workforce.
Postnatal hubs
Postnatal hubs are giving women access to postnatal care in community settings, away from a hospital environment. This service offers a postnatal review appointment to all women prior to discharge from the postnatal ward. This includes a full check of mother and baby, birth reflections, infant feeding assessment and supports, discussion of choices for future pregnancy, and general health promotion. In addition, a midwife is available to provide telephone postnatal support to women.
Postnatal hubs are open in Sligo, Carlow-Kilkenny, Cork, Kerry and Portiuncula. Funding has been provided from the Women’s Health Fund under the Women’s Health Action Plan in 2024 to deliver four more hubs. Budget 2025 will enable four additional hubs to establish a network of 13 in 2025.
National Perinatal Genomics
A structure for this service was designed and approved in 2023. Through this service, women are accessing evaluation, diagnosis, management and treatment of anomalies before birth. The additional recruitment of staff will enable more women across the country to access this service in 2025, with shorter referral times.
National Clinical Audit Function
The establishment of a National Clinical Audit function in Maternity Services within the HSE including a research network to focus on women’s health priority areas is called for under action 29-32 of the Strategy. This research and audit function will contribute to clinical guidelines to achieve woman-centred, safe, high-quality care. A clear audit function and optimal clinical involvement will enhance confidence and evidence in the quality of care delivered for women.