It is a very interesting and exciting time to be a midwife in Ireland. There are many changes occurring in the profession and in the provision of maternity services and the two are inter-linked. Midwives are reasserting their right to a separate professional identity.

Pilot community midwifery schemes are in progress and many maternity facilities are looking at ways to improve the services that they provide so that women will have more choice about the type of care they receive, about who provides it and where. Midwives are actively involved in all these developments. The continuing rise in the birth rate and the changing cultural profile of the population also have a significant effect on the role of midwives.

Most midwives are employed in maternity hospitals or maternity units attached to general hospitals. However, midwives may also practise independently in the community. Registration as a midwife is also required prior to entry to the Public Health Nursing programme.

Coombe Women's Hospital

Dublin's Coombe Women's Hospital is one of the busiest of its kind in Ireland. With approximately 8,000 births a year, the hospital specialises in the care of women, babies and their extended families. The Coombe Women's Hospital is an academic teaching hospital with a School of Midwifery linked to University College Dublin, and it is a national referral centre for women and babies

Its ethos is summed up in its mission statement; "Excellence in the care of Women and Babies". As a tertiary hospital, women from all parts of Ireland, and from all social backgrounds, are cared for. In addition, women from over 100 different countries give birth here, making up 20% of our patient caseload.

The Coombe is known for the expertise of its staff, and the personalised care given to patients. The hospital has remained true to its mission of providing quality, accessible and affordable healthcare to all in need. Our goal is to ensure that this tradition of caring will be available for generations to come.

Educational links and practise

The hospital is attached to three medical schools, University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). It is also linked to UCD providing R.M/Higher Diploma Midwifery Education & Training Programme, and with the RCSI providing the Higher Diploma in Neonatal Intensive Care Medicine.

The Coombe Women's Hospital is committed to continuing education and professional development of midwives and nurses clinically, as well as in research and management.

Midwifery and nursing staff, in partnership with other health professionals, strive continuously to improve the overall standard of clinical care, to reduce the unacceptable variations in practice, and to ensure patient care is based on the most recent up-to-date evidence known to be effective.

Midwifery and nursing practice in the hospital is focused upon the provision of effective, efficient, patient/family centred, holistic care conforming to agreed standards. These services are provided through arrange of specialisms including:

• Ante, intra and post natal care
• Parent Education
• Family Planning
• Neonatal nursing, including special and intensive care
• Gynaecology
• Cervical Screening
• Colposcopy
• Untrasonography

We have close links with our sister maternity hospitals in Dublin, and with Tallaght and St James's Hospitals also in Dublin, where some of our consultants have additional sessions.

Staffing

The hospital has a staffing complement of around 640 WTE, and the management and staff are dedicated to continuously improving the quality of care, and ensuring the standards of care encompass the latest innovations and research.

Development plans

Currently we have a two bedded and a four- bedded ward for mothers waiting to give birth in one of our seven single delivery rooms. In addition, we have a four- bedded Recovery Room. A major reconfiguration of Delivery Suite area is currently underway.

One extension will incorporate extra space for the labour ward, which will allow us to put an operating theatre into the labour ward, and to remodel existing facilities. There will be a large extension to the Ultrasound and Perinatal Centres, and Parent Education will be moved to a purpose-built facility.

A second extension will essentially double the size of the paediatric intensive care unit, and this will allow us to care for sick babies in a modern facility. There will be a ward extension and additional space created on the ground floor, which it is hoped will become a purpose-built gynaecological outpatients facility, as our gynaecological service remains the busiest in Ireland.

The hospital has a positive work environment and offers a range of flexible working options, together with family friendly policies to enable you to balance your work and home life. The Coombe Women's Hospital also has an on-site creche for staff.

Key facts and statistics

National tertiary referral centre specialising in fetal medicine, neonatal and maternal care, and gynae oncology

Births - approximately 8,000 a year
4 dedicated operating theatres
Perinatal Day Centre
Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit
Around 30,000 public antenatal attendances annually
135 maternity beds
Hospital and community based midwifery teams
Early Transfer Home option for healthy mothers
One of three providers of the National Neonatal Transport Service
Tertiary level Neonatal Centre with 33 beds catering for 1,000 plus admissions each year

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