Women who find the National Maternity Hospital "booked out" when they try to make arrangements to deliver their baby have been advised by a consultant at the hospital to contact their local TD.
Dr Peter Boylan, a consultant obstetrician at the Holles Street hospital, gave the advice yesterday when commenting on the decision by the hospital to limit the number of babies it is prepared to deliver to 700 a month next summer.
The decision was made in the interests of patient safety as the hospital could not cope with any more deliveries, the Master of the hospital, Dr Declan Keane, said on Friday when details of the move emerged through the Labour Party health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus.
Dr Boylan said the Department of Health was aware of the pressure on the hospital for at least 10 years. "The persistent answer we get is you're fine, you don't need more people, you don't need more nurses, you don't need more doctors, the hospital is fine, go away and stop annoying us," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
He said experience in the past had suggested "the only way that you can get a government department or a minister to act in any meaningful way is to create a situation where they have to take action. Otherwise they won't do it. They will get a report, they'll get an analysis, there will be consultants coming in and so on but as far as actually doing something about it, that seems to be the last thing on the agenda".
An €18 million interim plan to deal with overcrowding and health and safety issues at the hospital was submitted for approval to the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) and the Department of Health in June.
Yesterday a spokesman for the Minister for Health, Ms Harney, said it was agreed in July that a project team would convene. The team met on August 25th. A further meeting is being arranged between the Department, the ERHA and the hospital to agree the best approach to the planning and design stages, he said.