Community midwifery service to be established at Sligo University Hospital maternity department

The Maternity Department has launched a new pilot service to enhance midwifery care at Sligo University Hospital (SUH). Establishing community midwifery as an outreach service from the hospital will provide women and babies with integrated care as close to home as possible.

Postnatal clinic appointments will be offered to all women on day 8 and day 20 after their baby is born. This is in addition to the service currently being provided by GPs and Public Health Nursing.

Women will be invited to attend a clinic in Primary Care Centres in Ballyshannon, Carrick-on-Shannon, Sligo town and Ballymote. At the time of discharge from the Maternity ward, all women will be provided with an appointment to attend a postnatal hub nearest their home.

Each appointment will consist of a consultation with a midwife carrying out a full mother and baby check. Referrals and follow-up care will be provided as clinically required. In addition, a midwife is available, Monday to Friday, at designated times to provide telephone postnatal support to the women.

Karlene Kearns, Clinical Midwife Manager 2, Sligo University Hospital, said: "The aim of the service is to provide enhanced postnatal care, early signposting for additional services, breastfeeding support and reduce postnatal admission.

"The service was created in response to feedback from a patient engagement survey, which revealed that postnatal midwifery care needed to be improved. We are very pleased to be selected as a pilot site by the HSE's National Women and Infants Health Programme and secured funding for additional resources to support to roll out this pilot," she said.

Juliana Henry, Director of Midwifery at the Hospital, said: "This service is a fundamental part of the National Maternity Strategy's Model of Care to develop a community midwifery service. It will help us to provide women with integrated care as close to home as feasible by collaborating with our Public Health Nursing colleagues and General Practitioners. We will be actively monitoring the success of the pilot and adapting it as required to meet the needs of the women using our service.

Grainne McCann, Hospital Manager Sligo University Hospital, added, "I am delighted to see the launch of this new pilot Midwifery service which promotes and demonstrates quality integrated care for women closer to home. This is one of many successful national projects that SUH staff have progressed recently towards our mission of continuous quality improvement for patients."