Some Maternity Hospitals will today begin to ease Covid restrictions for expecting parents.
Dr Kyrisa Lynch - Chair of AIMS Ireland and callers rang in to chat to Andrea about it.
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Differences in Covid restrictions at maternity hospitals baffling women
Advocates call for restrictions to be risk assessed as some hospitals have eased restrictions but others fail to make any changes.
Advocates say pregnant women s partners should not be viewed as visitors and want the entire labour experience to be accompanied .
Sun, 11 Apr, 2021 - 07:00
Niamh Griffin, Health Correspondent
Visiting restrictions to maternity hospitals should be risk assessed to show how they are protecting women and staff, maternity advocates have said.
The call comes as a number of hospitals eased some restrictions in the last few days, but others have made no change. This only deepens the inequity of access, advocates say, as they demanded the science behind these changes be made public.
Covid boosts homebirth demand as women avoid hospitals
National Homebirth Service numbers increased from 272 in 2019 to 354 last year, across all HSE regions Marah Weissbrich-Maloney with her nine-month-old son Jacob, who was born at home in Killaloe, Co Clare. Picture: Dan Linehan
Tue, 09 Mar, 2021 - 20:30
Niamh Griffin
The demand for homebirths has gone up by more than a third during the pandemic, as many women opt to avoid hospitals.
The National Homebirth Service numbers increased from 272 in 2019 to 354 last year, across all HSE regions.
Some regions saw noticeable increases including Mid-Leinster, up from 65 to 107, and HSE West, from 22 to 37.
Cork and Kerry was the busiest region in both years with 127 (2019) and 129 (2020) women registered for a homebirth.