A massive increase in patient numbers would be required to make a consultant-led maternity service at Monaghan General Hospital viable, counsel for the North Eastern Health Board told the High Court yesterday.
The maternity service at the hospital has been suspended since March 2001 and four local women have brought a High Court challenge. They claim the board exceeded its powers under the Health Act 1970.
The plaintiffs are Ms Shauna Tierney, Clones; Ms Maura Sherlock, Tydavnet; Ms Brenda McAnespie, Emyvale, and Ms Sharon O'Neill, Emyvale. They are supported by the Monaghan General Hospital Development Committee.
The hearing concluded yesterday and Mr Justice Ó Caoimh said he would give his judgment on July 23rd.
Yesterday, on the second day of the hearing, Mr Gerard Hogan SC, for the board, said the numbers availing of the maternity service at Monaghan between 1993 and 2000 ranged from 300 to 346 a year. To have a consultant- led service of that kind, a massive increase in those numbers, to about 1,000 a year, was needed to make the unit viable, he said.
The decision to suspend the service had to be taken by the board given the exigencies that confronted it, Mr Hogan added.
The service had been suspended because of insurance and safety. There had been no discontinuation, just a temporary suspension. It was hoped to resume with a midwife-led service in Monaghan next year.
When Mr Justice Ó Caoimh said that a midwife-led service was not the same as the consultant-led service which had been available, Mr Hogan said while it would be without a consultant, it would be an "in-house" service.
He said there was nothing in the Health Act 1970 to prevent the board discontinuing an in-patient maternity service at a particular hospital.