25 signatures reached
To: The Minister for Health, the Health Service Executive (HSE), and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health
Irish Maternity Care: Pause structural changes until public units are fully resourced.
- Pause the Restriction of Care Pathways: Suspend the enforcement of private practice restrictions for obstetricians and gynecologists within public hospitals until public maternity units are independently verified as fully staffed and capable of offering guaranteed continuity of care (whether midwife- or consultant-led) to every woman in the country.
- Formally Acknowledge the Maternity Infrastructure Deficit: Recognise that maternity care cannot be legislated under rigid, one-size-fits-all Sláintecare rules because the State has historically failed to provide an alternative private maternity infrastructure.
- Implement an Emergency Staffing and Retention Plan: Prioritise immediate funding for the recruitment and retention of permanent midwives and consultants across all 19 units to stabilise a struggling system before forcing through sweeping contractual changes.
Why is this important?
We, the undersigned citizens of Ireland, call for an immediate pause on the forced removal of private and semi-private care pathways within public maternity hospitals. While we fully support the long-term goal of a universally funded, single-tier public health system, the current execution of Sláintecare reforms creates a deeply unjust double standard that uniquely targets women when they are at their most vulnerable.
In the Irish healthcare system, an individual requiring orthopedic surgery, cardiac care, or general medical treatment retains the freedom to choose private care and access it via dedicated private hospital infrastructure. However, maternity care is fundamentally different. There are no standalone private maternity hospitals in Ireland. Every expectant mother, regardless of her choices or medical needs, must use the same 19 public maternity units.
By banning consultants on new contracts from treating private patients within these shared public units, the Government is systematically dismantling the only pathway women have to guarantee continuity of consultant-led care. For many, this choice is not a luxury; it is a vital clinical safety net used to navigate severe past birth trauma, high-risk medical conditions, or a heartbreaking history of miscarriage.
To strip this choice away before the public system is actually resourced, staffed, and capable of delivering guaranteed continuity of care to all women is a premature structural shift. A patient in labor cannot defer care, shop around, or walk out if the system is failing; they are entirely vulnerable to the infrastructure available on the day. Restricting choices in a female-only healthcare sector, while leaving options intact for general and male-dominated medical specialties, represents a profound inequity.