Surgical abortions in Cavan hospital in early 2024 – Varadkar
Operational recommendations in an independent review of abortion services across Ireland will be implemented immediately, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil.
Speaking last week, he also said the HSE will work to encourage GPs to provide services after stating it is “not good enough” only 11 of the country’s 19 maternity hospitals currently provide surgical terminations. Cavan Hospital is among those not yet providing surgical terminations.
Mr Varadkar said a programme will now be put in place to ensure all 19 provide such services by early 2024.
The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act was signed into law in September 2018, enabling greater access to termination of pregnancy services from January 1, 2019. Prior to this, the termination of pregnancy could only be performed if a risk to life of the mother could be established.
Since the change 17,820 terminations were carried out in Ireland between 2019 and 2021.
But the review has found an uneven geographic spread of hospitals providing termination services. Along with 11 hospitals, there are 422 community service providers.
A total of 77 terminations occurred where the address of the woman was given as Cavan in 2019; 107 in 2020; and 70 in 2021.
There are three locations in Cavan where termination services are provided at present.
In neighbouring Monaghan, where there are two, the figures were 36 termination in 2019; 54 in 2020; and 46 in 2021.
The report states a recruitment process to appoint medical practitioners to carry out terminations at Cavan General closed with a shortlisting of candidates in December 2022, and interviews were scheduled for January 2023.
It is not known whether the position has been filled. Though the independent review, published Wednesday last week, acknowledges “further delays may be expected if the medical practitioner awarded the contract does not take up the post for several months”.
“The net effect of failure to provide full services is to move the workload to another maternity hospital and to cause women to have to travel greater distances (in some cases taking several hours) to receive care that should be available to them in their nearest maternity hospital.”
The review further recommends that the Department of Health engage with stakeholders to ascertain a better understanding of the difficulties in making diagnoses relating to whether the condition of the foetus will lead to death in utero or within 28 days of birth.
Other recommendations
Other recommendations require legislative change, and the Taoiseach says these are being referred to the all-party Oireachtas Health Committee for consideration.
These include proposals to remove medical practitioners from the scope of criminal sanction, removing the mandatory three-day waiting period and allowing abortion beyond 12 weeks in certain circumstances.
The review was carried out by barrister Marie O’Shea.