There is an urgent need to increase the frequency of cleaning in a number of areas in the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street, Dublin, but funding for this has not been provided, according to Michael Lenihan, the hospital's sec-retary/manager.
Writing in the hospital's latest annual report, released yesterday, Mr Lenihan said there was also a need to provide staff out of hours to undertake cleaning duties.
"The cost of these developments have been submitted to the Health Service Executive but regrettably no additional revenue funding has been provided," he wrote. He added that these needs were identified in 2005 in an Irish Health Services Accreditation Board survey.
The hospital's annual report for 2006 also refers to the hospital's overall budget for last year as inadequate.
Brian Davy, the hospital's deputy chairman, states: "On the subject of finance, 2006 was a normal year in that the hospital was allocated an inadequate budget at the start of the year. As usual, we spent the entire year negotiating additional funding for very identifiable matters which continue to arise year after year. The sooner Irish hospitals move to a situation where an adequate budget is allocated at the start of the year the better. In such a scenario we can be realistically held accountable for fiscal performance."
The report states that the hospital's level of activity increased in 2006 after a cap had been placed on women giving birth in the hospital during the summer of 2005. There is no plan at the moment to put a cap on births this summer.
The hospital's Caesarean section rate rose for the 10th consecutive year in 2006 to 18.9 per cent of all births, the report says. The year before, 18.3 per cent of all deliveries at the hospital were by Caesarean section.
Dr Michael Robson, master of the hospital, said the current Caesarean section rate, together with a high induction rate, remained a concern and continuously needed to be challenged.
He also said the subject of healthcare-associated infections would remain an important national issue and the hospital was developing a strategy to deal with hygiene, decontamination and infection prevention and control.
Some 7,986 women gave birth to 8,088 infants at the hospital in 2006. Of these, 60 were either stillborn or died during the first seven days of life. The report states 29 of the deaths were due to congenital anomalies.
The report also refers again to the long-held view that the hospital needs to relocate to the site of an acute hospital. St Vincent's Hospital has confirmed its agreement in principle to the relocation. However, there will be no movement on it pending the outcome of a review of maternity services by the HSE, which is due for completion later in the year.
Asked about the failure to provide more funding for cleaning services at the hospital, a HSE spokesman said the executive was in constant negotiations with hospitals on their funding requirements. "Hospitals receive funding from us based on the priorities they identify," he said.