A recent survey conducted by Irish Examiner/Landsdowne Market Research was an eye opener. It revealed that two out of three women in Ireland are unhappy with the maternal services offered in the country and feels that there is definitely room for improvement.
The research has revealed that almost 63% of women in Ireland who gave birth over the last two years were displeased with several aspects of the antenatal care that they received and the routine labor they had to undergo there after. The survey showed that the Irish women were offended by many of the standard operational procedures adopted by most hospitals there like extremely long waiting periods during ante natal check–ups, little or dismally poor communication between the doctors and patients, and an obvious shortage of staff.Coupled with these irritants is the fact that most women are put through a battery of procedures during ante natal period and during delivery involving new technology which most women feel is at times unnecessary or uncalled for. Many reported that it was unnerving to go through the motions of labor often induced or speeded up and the likelihood of caesarian section often followed by an early discharge from hospital in the absence of any major medical complication.
Professor Cecily Begley, director of the School of Midwifery and Nursing at Trinity College comments that today’s women are seemingly forced to go through a medical care system which can be likened to a conveyer belt on which they are hurtled around as promptly as possible.
This survey done by Irish Examiner was the first of its kind that delved into the heart of issues which swirl around mothers who alone are directly influenced by the maternal services offered in Ireland. The results have brought to light that the country’s 22 maternity hospitals have not really expanded over the last decade to accommodate the baby boom the nation has been experiencing since a couple of years now. Yet another report is expected to be published in a fortnight by the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynecologists which also aims at studying the pitfalls that plague today’s maternal health care system.
Source-Medindia
MST
