Irish Maternity Hospitals Are ‘Falling Down’ – Dr Rhona Mahony

The Master of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street has warned that Ireland is not paying enough attention to childbirth. Speaking to Kathy Sheridan on the Irish Times The Women’s podcast in a special 1916 programme recorded live at the Rotunda Hospital, Dr Mahony said there is much work to do in correcting the mistakes of the past and making Ireland's maternity hospitals fit for purpose:

“I believe we did not pay enough attention to birth in this country. It was a women’s issue. There’s a tendency to turn off for women’s issues, but here’s the thing: everybody is born and women’s issues matter,” she said. “When you look at it, we have a third the number of doctors we should have, we’re really short on midwives in my hospital, and the Rotunda is the same. And we have these old buildings that have changed very little.”

The mother-of-four, a consultant obstetrician, gynaecologist and specialist in foetal and maternal medicine, (and the first woman to head a Dublin maternity hospital) said women had 'no voice' in the two major institutions of the hospital's formation, the Catholic Church and the State:

"We have maternity hospitals that are falling down and don’t have the staff they should have,” she said.

“I hope that in 100 years time they’ll say this was the turning point, this 1916 commemoration, when people started to listen to what women were saying and thinking.”

MORE: Dr Rhona Mahony Describes Life On The Frontline