Mayor calls for ban on partners at baby scans to be eased
DUBLIN’S Lord Mayor Hazel Chu has said that being denied the support of a partner for the duration of an early pregnancy scan is one of the key restrictions pregnant women would like to see lifted.
Ms Chu has been spearheading a campaign to see the capital’s three maternity hospitals revise their current regulations surrounding maternity appointments and leading up to birth.
More than 700 women have emailed her with their stories of heartbreak and loss after she asked for feedback on the issue.
She has been in contact with the three hospital Masters and the Rotunda has already eased some restrictions around partners accompanying women to anomaly scans, but the Coombe and the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, have not followed suit yet.
“There is a balance here between making sure we protect our staff and frontline workers and also to make sure we support the mothers and fathers and families,” she said.
“It’s a difficult journey and we have to think of the overall mental health of the patient. Letting partners in for the 20-week scan in the Rotunda was good, so the question is whether the others can too.
“Conversations are being had and things are being assessed so I’m hoping in the next couple of weeks things will keep moving in the right direction.”
A key concern for those who contacted her was not having their partner there for the first scan to detect the baby’s heartbeat.
“I’m a mum of one and if I had to go through it now, I’m not sure I could,” Ms Chu told the Irish Independent.
“That’s the period where if something is wrong, you’ll see it and you do not want to be alone in that room when that happens.
“I get it when hospitals say, ‘We’ll call someone if there is and they can be let in straight away.’ But once you’re there and you know there’s something wrong, it’s that moment when you really need someone there.
“The early pregnancy part needs to be reviewed constantly by hospitals. There also needs to be a will and the resource put in by the Government in upskilling health across the board.
“That’s a massive issue and it was brought up with the
Level 3 restrictions this week, where they were talking about upskilling our health and mental health system. So we need to make sure we upskill maternity care as well.”
Ms Chu, who has daughter Alex (2) with her partner Patrick Costello – a Green Party TD – said hospitals were constrained by issues of space and funding. There is also confusion about what restrictions are in place in different hospitals and what measures will be implemented in the future as we learn to live with the virus.
“A plan really does have to be put in place on how do we support our health services across the board like oncology, maternity, various departments – my uncle has stage-four cancer,” she said.
“I want to know exactly what’s going to be done in relation to oncology outpatient care, so those things are really important and they’re things I’m going to be asking over the coming months.”
‘Once you know there’s something wrong, that’s when you really need someone there’