GALWAY MIDWIVES DELIVERING THREE TIMES NATIONAL AVERAGE

Date Published: 09-Mar-2008

Midwives at University Hospital Galway are delivering three times the national average of babies a year, according to HSE figures.

The Sunday Independent is reporting that the 37 midwives at UHG delivered a staggering 3,400 babies in one year.

That works out at over 91 babies per midwife, the highest in the country and well above the national average of just over 31 births a year per midwife.

Deputy Damien English who secured the figures from the HSE, said they indicated that maternity services were at ‘breaking point’.

Responding, a HSE spokesman said the figures don’t take into account the complexity of the service in each maternity unit.