1,000 signatures reached
To: Dee Forbes, the Director-General of RTÉ
Call to cancel the 3rd season of The Rotunda
Stop remainder shows of the 3rd season of the Rotunda from airing
Why is this important?
This petition is to call for the cancelation of this seasons TV show that is a truly disappointing, disrespectful and misleading reflection on life in a maternity hospital during this pandemic.
Filming took place across 11 months (Nov 20 – Sept 21) when maternity restrictions were at their worst. Despite this The Rotunda have defended filming by saying there were minimal numbers of crew on site at all times. We have heard many many accounts from people in antenatal clinic waiting rooms seeing producers trying to recruit expectant mothers for this show.
The show featured all mothers with their birthing partners where as the reality is vastly different.
An official statement from RTE states that “this documentary was to authentically tell the stories or mother and their partners”.
This show didn't once show these amazing women alone, alone in their scans, alone waiting in physical and emotional pain in A & E, alone receiving heart-breaking news, alone with the limited time they can spend with their babies in NICU, alone meeting their babies for the first time in NICU, alone in their rooms trying to stand up out of bed to comfort, feed , care for their babies after recovering from major surgery. Alone waiting for that door to open to answer their bell from the under resourced care team doing their best to answer every call to provide the essential support which partners could be providing. Alone waiting patiently for the porter to take them down to NICU to see their baby. Alone trying to finalise their beautiful new baby’s name, alone answering questions and taking in complex information on their baby’s status, test results and feeding plan.
This purpose of this petition is not to take away from all of the beautiful babies born over the last 18 months or their even more amazing mothers. Nor does this petition intend to take away from the enormous credit due to the dedicated hard working staff of the Rotunda who patients and their families are eternality grateful for.
Filming took place across 11 months (Nov 20 – Sept 21) when maternity restrictions were at their worst. Despite this The Rotunda have defended filming by saying there were minimal numbers of crew on site at all times. We have heard many many accounts from people in antenatal clinic waiting rooms seeing producers trying to recruit expectant mothers for this show.
The show featured all mothers with their birthing partners where as the reality is vastly different.
An official statement from RTE states that “this documentary was to authentically tell the stories or mother and their partners”.
This show didn't once show these amazing women alone, alone in their scans, alone waiting in physical and emotional pain in A & E, alone receiving heart-breaking news, alone with the limited time they can spend with their babies in NICU, alone meeting their babies for the first time in NICU, alone in their rooms trying to stand up out of bed to comfort, feed , care for their babies after recovering from major surgery. Alone waiting for that door to open to answer their bell from the under resourced care team doing their best to answer every call to provide the essential support which partners could be providing. Alone waiting patiently for the porter to take them down to NICU to see their baby. Alone trying to finalise their beautiful new baby’s name, alone answering questions and taking in complex information on their baby’s status, test results and feeding plan.
This purpose of this petition is not to take away from all of the beautiful babies born over the last 18 months or their even more amazing mothers. Nor does this petition intend to take away from the enormous credit due to the dedicated hard working staff of the Rotunda who patients and their families are eternality grateful for.