Five of the country's 19 maternity units are not fully compliant with HSE guidelines on easing restrictions for partners.
Those are:
- Tipperary University Hospital
- Waterford University Hospital
- Letterkenny University Hospital
- St. Luke's in Kilkenny
- Wexford General Hospital
The HSE's Chief Clinical Officer has asked the units to facilitate a minimum 30 minute a day visit.
However that's as well as having the partner present for anomaly scans, the birth of the child and access to neo-natal units.
The Health Minister says 14 of the 19 maternity hospitals are fully compliant with that.
The five that are not compliant all have at least issues with daily visitation and all five are part of a general hospital, rather than being a standalone maternity unit. These will be engaged with further by the HSE to work through solutions.
— Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) May 13, 2021
Some Issues In The Other 5 Units
However Stephen Donnelly says local issues in the five others are preventing greater access for the partners.
He says the problem in Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford is with daily visiting.
Meanwhile the issue in Letterkenny is with high Covid rates in the area, "and staff absenteeism," as a result.
Finally the problem in St Luke's Kilkenny is with the scan.
The Minister says there's simply no room for the partner to be "safely accommodated."
But there's a solution, "...basically what we're doing is we're getting the equipment moved to where there is [room]."
