“Shameful. Absolutely shameful”
RTÉ’s popular series The Rotunda is set to return to our TV screens tomorrow.
The new episodes will feature 20 stories and follow the hospital’s patients on their moving journeys.
The third series was filmed during the Covid-19 pandemic, so there’s no doubt this season will be quite an overwhelming and intense watch.
We will see expectant-mums cope with the tight restrictions and the impact they have had on their families.
We will also see the impact the pandemic had on the healthcare workers at The Rotunda.
In episode one, viewers will meet couple Clive and Michelle. Three years ago the couple lost their son Zach, who was born prematurely.
The pair return to the maternity hospital for a new chapter of their lives in Wednesday’s episode.
The return of the show has been met with criticism online.
The hospital enforced strict guidelines during the pandemic, which meant a lot of women were given harrowing news alone. Others had to give birth alone and new dads were forced to sit in the car park, waiting to hear about how their partner’s and newborn were doing.
Numerous women have called out how insensitive it was to allow a TV crew into the hospital when so many people weren’t allowed.
One woman tweeted: “Recorded during the pandemic at a time when partners were told to wait outside in the car park. Let that sink in. A TV show was considered more important than providing safe, compassionate care. #BetterMaternityCare.”
“I will never forget attending the Rotunda booking appointment alone and terrified after a previous loss, seeing a woman who got bad news alone crying in the corridor, knowing that a TV crew was wandering around the hospital. Shameful. Absolutely shameful” said another.”
Do you think the show should have been filmed during the pandemic or was it too insensitive?
The Rotunda returns to RTÉ 2 at 9.30 pm on September 8.
