There has been a renewed call for the birthing pool to be reinstated as soon as possible in the midwifery-led unit of Craigavon Area Hospital – something which the Southern HSC Trust had promised to do.
As things stand, there is another birthing pool available at the hospital, however any mother-to-be wishing to avail of it for a natural birth in water has to be transferred to the Delivery Suite, which is two floors down from the midwifery-led unit.
As the Delivery Suite is dedicated to high-risk births, it effectively doubles up as a bereavement room at times.
DUP councillor Frances Burton, who has been campaigning on this issue for some time, commented: “The midwifery-led birthing pool was removed in January 2021. I am seeking a timescale for its replacement.
“I feel strongly that women should have the option, if desired, to safely birth their baby in safe and caring surroundings, with staff that are doing their best in their role as midwives.
“The midwifery-led unit should have its own pool, so that it wouldn’t have to juggle mothers at low risk, but care for them in an area where they feel safe.”
The matter was raised again at last Thursday’s (January 23) monthly meeting of Mid Ulster District Council, when a representative from the Southern HSC Trust was in attendance.
Director of Planning, Performance & Informatics, Elaine Wilson explained that she was not in a position to give a timescale for the replacement of the missing birthing pool: “In relation to the birthing pool, we had had to do a bit of work to try and look at how we would re-establish that in our midwifery-led Unit.
“We don’t have a time frame at the minute for getting that done, but just to reassure [councillors], it is still a priority, we do see it as something that’s important, but it’s subject to available capital funding.”
Cllr Burton pointed out that the deadline for the replacement of the pool had already been missed: “It was me that submitted about the birthing pool. This dates back to January 2021 and it was supposed to be a priority then, and I was given a date that it would be replaced in the 2023-24 year.
“I think it was actually to be replaced in the 2022-23 year, and then it was postponed to 2023-24.
“There is still the same desire from moms-to-be, in the non-emergency midwifery-led [unit] of the hospital, to have a birthing pool and to have that option.”
The Clogher Valley representative also mentioned the plight of a gentleman who is in desperate need of daily care, and has been told he must leave hospital and go home: “I was contacted recently by a family, and this is to do with carers.
“There’s a gentleman who’s tonight in one of the Belfast hospitals. He’s been told he has to get out of the bed to go home.
“He can’t stand, he can’t walk, he needs two carers four times a day, and I have run around trying to get any response in terms of [Trust] carers that cover Ballygawley, Eglish and Aughnacloy.
“Are you really taking on board the dearth of carers that’s out there that are representing the Trust, and also is there anyone that the family could speak to from the Trust in relation to the [Direct Payment Scheme], when they employ somebody to do the care?”
