SDLP Health Spokesperson Colin McGrath has said that addressing workforce issues is key to improving maternity and neonatal services.

He was speaking after a statement from Health Minister Mike Nesbitt on the independent review in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Mr McGrath said that services should be delivered on a regional basis.

South Down MLA Mr McGrath said:

“In recent years we have heard repeated calls for reform of how we deliver maternity and neonatal services and my heart goes out to any family who has been impacted by the circumstances surrounding this review. I welcome the Minister’s acknowledgement of the issues and his address to the Assembly today, but once again we are hearing the problems being reiterated without adequate proposals or timelines to address them.

“The key to improving maternity services lies in our workforce. If we want to train and recruit more midwives then this needs to commence immediately. If we don’t increase training places at our universities and get more staff in place by next September then this will be pushed to the following year and so on and these problems will just get worse.

“We also need to accept that the most efficient way to deliver maternity and neonatal services with the best outcomes for mothers and babies is on a regional basis. This place is too small and there are too few patients requiring this kind of care to allow each trust area to operate their own systems and practices.

“This is the latest in a long line of health reviews and we need to see action from the Minister and his department to ensure that this doesn’t end up on a shelf gathering dust like so many before it. Recruitment and reform are the key challenges and unless we see that work start now then we will struggle to deliver the services that people deserve.”