Lack of maternity cover is 'impacting on patient safety'

The HSE is not in a position to provide cover for maternity leave in all instances, it has been revealed.

At a recent HSE West Regional Health Forum, Cllr Emer Kelly raised the issue, saying that a number of maternity leave posts were not being approved for cover, particularly in the health and social care professions (HSCP) sections across the region.

She said this would result in significant back logs and delays over the busiest winter months, and questioned why the HSE was not providing cover.

In response the HSE said that these professions were the second largest clinical group in the health services.

“HSCPs are highly qualified and skilled and play a significant role in the health, wellbeing and quality of life of the population,” the HSE said. “Recruitment and back filling of leave, including maternity leave, is prioritised based on patient safety and service need. Approval for recruitment is subject to the HSE’s recruitment and budgetary controls and dependent on the availability of funding. As a result, it may not be possible to approve cover for every period of maternity leave that arises, particularly where there are competing workforce pressures and priorities across services.” 

The position is kept under ongoing review, the HSE added.

Cllr Kelly acknowledged the response but said that the feedback on the ground was that there were a significant number of vacant posts due to maternity leave.

“This is placing a significant demand on services,” she said. “When it comes to services such as discharge planning, these occupations, OTs, social care workers, speech and language therapists, are essential. We are coming into the winter months when there is going to be a huge surge in demand in hospitals and in primary care.” 

She warned that not filling the posts was going to lead to increased lengths of stay, hospital readmissions, failed discharges, and poor outcomes for patients.

“Ultimately not approving cover for these posts is impacting on patient safety,” she said. “This cover needs to be prioritised in budgets going forward.” 

Integrated health area manager for Galway Roscommon, Ann Cosgrove agreed that these roles were key.

“All disciplines within our system are subject to the same employment controls,” she said. “Not all cover for maternity leaves are being approved because we are over spent on our pay budget. We are in a difficult position and that has definitely impacted on the level of maternity leave cover we can provide.” 

Cllr Kelly said that she understood the financial position but argued that more was spent on delayed discharges and readmitting patients.

“That would more than meet the cost for the maternity cover,” she told the forum.

She asked that this matter be raised with the HSE's CEO.