ONE OF THE country’s biggest maternity hospitals has paused a service that allows women to talk through their birth experiences.

Women who have had difficult birth experiences have been upset to discover the ‘birth reflections’ service, which the hospital previously advertised online, is no longer available.

Launching the confidential service in 2021, the Rotunda said that talking one to one with a dedicated midwife would help women to understand, for instance, why interventions such as c-section or instrumental delivery were needed and the possible implications for future births.

The hospital says now that a lack of HSE funding has led to the service being halted, while the HSE says staffing shortages have meant that the necessary post can’t be filled.

It is understood that the service has not been available for at least nine months.

‘I don’t really know why things happened’

Alison told The Journal that she had questions about her emergency caesarean section, which took place in the Rotunda last year.

It was not until March of this year, a few months after the birth, that she “felt able” to talk to someone about her experience.

“I don’t really know why things happened, or why they happened the way they did,” she said.

This included not being informed until leaving the hospital that forceps had been used in her c-section and not being able to hold her baby immediately after delivery, contrary to what she’d been told to expect.

When Alison enquired about a birth reflection through the advertised email address, she got an automated response telling her to contact them again in October. No alternatives were provided.

I feel disappointed and just left on my own to deal with it … It’s kind of hard to work yourself up to send that email.

‘It would help me deal with it’

Another woman who spoke to The Journal and did not want to be identifed explained that she had used the Rotunda’s birth reflection service in the past.

It was during the pandemic, so the meeting took place over Zoom. The woman said she found the service “absolutely brilliant”. She said the nurse was “lovely” and talked her through what happened.

After this positive experience, the woman sought a reflection for her second birth, which she described as “quite traumatic”.

“[The birth] was just such a blur, and I want to go through what happened. I think that would help me kind of deal with it,” she said.

I just thought it would be beneficial to go through the reflections again, to see what happened and if anything could have been done different.

She too was met with an automated response.

The Rotunda said the initial funding to resource the service was provided by the hospital’s Board for two years but was then absorbed into the hospital’s headcount and funded as part of service arrangement with the HSE.

In a statement, a spokesperson said the specialist staff member is on long-term sick leave “and the hospital has been unable to replace [them] due to service demands”.

“This is being reviewed and [we] hope in 2025 to have the birth reflections service back running and fully operational.”

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Safer Births Ireland, an advocacy group for improved maternity care, said it was “disheartening” to hear of the absence of a birth reflection service in the Rotunda Hospital, noting the “profound negative impacts” a lack of support can have.

“It is imperative that these hubs prioritise a consistent and high-standard approach to aftercare, ensuring that all individuals receive the support they need, independent of staff availability,” Lisa Duffy, one of the group’s founders said.

She added that providing such a service will “not only enhance the quality of care but also foster a more compassionate and understanding environment for those recovering from such challenging experiences”.

The HSE said that all women “have the right to request a meeting” with a midwife or obstetrician to talk about their birth experience, and that the 19 maternity units “are committed to providing birth reflection services”.

However, a spokesperson said, “access to this and other specialist services, is subject to the availability of appropriately trained and qualified staff”.

“As is widely recognised, there is a shortage of nursing and midwifery posts across our services, which can at times create challenges for some maternity units.”

In November, the healthcare workers’ unions voted to take industrial action over the amount of unfilled positions.

They argued that recruitment restrictions and the suppression of posts in the HSE were putting pressure on existing staff and risking the safety of patients.