A few years ago, the Rotunda Hospital faced enormous communication difficulties with non-English speaking women who arrived at their doorstep unannounced.
"We had a lot of women from different countries, late in the day in pregnancy, who hadn't booked in with us and didn't speak English," says the hospital's master, Dr Michael Geary.
But the situation is improving. "The pattern has changed," he says. "A lot of the women who are coming in now are part of our society, they are living here, they book in at earlier times and we can put in place a proper plan of care and that's a big difference."
In situations where medical staff can't communicate effectively, they bring a professional interpreter in.
"If we know in advance they are coming to a clinic, we will have booked a particular interpreter for whatever language is necessary."
But of course women in labour don't always turn up during office hours. "If it's in the middle of the night at 3am we can phone up and look for somebody but it's usually a three-way telephone conversation. These are the challenges," he says.
