Private Cork maternity unit may close

One of the country's main private maternity services at the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork is set to close under proposals for the provision of a centralised obstetrics unit in the city.

The Irish Times understands that the owners of the hospital, the Bon Secours Health System, are currently in talks with the Department of Health about the transfer of its maternity services to the new regional obstetrics unit currently being developed at Cork University Hospital.

However, the Bon Secours group is understood to be seeking guarantees about the future employment of existing staff under any transfer arrangement.

A spokesman for the Bon Secours declined to comment, but it is understood that no final agreement on the transfer of services to the city hospital has yet been reached between the two parties.

The Bon Secours is one of only two private maternity services of its kind in the country. The private obstetrics sector has been badly hit in recent years by soaring insurance costs. The Cork hospital currently assists in around 2,000 births a year.The possible transfer will not affect other departments at the Bon Secours Hospital, sources said.

The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, told the Dáil earlier this month that the €75 million amalgamated maternity unit at Cork University Hospital would be completed by the middle of next year. "The new maternity hospital represents an investment of €75 million and will replace the existing facilities at St Finbarr's Hospital, the Erinville Hospital and the Bon Secours Hospital," she said. Ms Harney added that the new amalgamated unit at Cork University Hospital will be designed to cater for approximately 7,000 births annually.

The development of the centralised obstetrics facility in Cork is part of an overall €100 million plan by the Government to increase capacity and improve services in maternity units around the country in the face of Ireland's increasing birth rate. Several weeks ago it emerged that the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, Dublin, was set to cap the number of babies it could deliver over the summer months due to capacity constraints.

Ms Harney said earlier this month that a project team charged with overseeing plans for the longer-term redevelopment of the National Maternity Hospital had recommended "a significant increase in the current level of accommodation".

The Department of Health has also given approval to commence planning for new developments at the Coombe Women's Hospital which will see the extension of the neo-natal intensive care unit, an up-grading of the existing ICU and the provision of a new Caesarian theatre as well as other facilities.