Over 3,400 pregnant mums avail of anomaly scan

More than 3,400 pregnant women have availed of the 20-week anomaly since the service became available at Cavan General Hospital almost three years ago.

The 20-week anomaly scan is available to all expectant mothers attending Cavan General Hospital who have been referred by their GP.

The provision of the service locally marked a major step forward for women in Cavan and Monaghan, who previously had to travel to the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin based on clinical need. If no clinical indication was provided, mothers could pay for a private scan.

The introduction of the service at Cavan followed recommendations arising out of the inquest into the death of baby Conor Whelan who died as a result of medical misadventure at the General Hospital on on 14 May 2014, 17 hours after being delivered by emergency Caesarean.

The inquest in 2016 heard that his mother, Siobhan Whelan, had been suffering from an undiagnosed condition called Vasa Previa, where foetal blood vessels block the entrance to the birth canal.

A consultant obstetrician at Cavan General Hospital, who saw Ms Whelan during her pregnancy, said he was not aware of a condition of low-lying placenta.

The inquest jury of seven women and three men recommended the introduction of a 20-week scan at the hospital. They also recommended the appointment of an obstetric radiologist at the hospital.

Anomaly scanning began at CGH in April 2018. In the first year, 407 such scans were conducted.

In 2019, the number of women scanned at CGH increased almost four-fold to 1545.Last year, despite Covid restrictions, 1,449 scans were carried out at CGH.

There were 1,512 babies born at Cavan General in 2018, the latest year for which complete figures are available.

Cavan General Hospital's maternity unit serves Cavan and Monaghan since the maternity ward closed in Monaghan hospital in 2001.

The department in Cavan currently provides maternity services for approximately 1,300 births per year and a Special Care Baby Unit providing care for babies from 30 weeks gestation onwards.

Under continued pandemic restrictions, a birth partner is allowed attend to the anomaly scans at present, and also attend the labour ward.

Furthermore they can visit the Midwifery Led Unit and the post-natal ward, an allowance not made at other maternity units around the country.