A CONTROVERSIAL review of maternity services at Letterkenny General Hospital has been suspended.
There had been fears the hospital could lose the services.
But the HSE said today that the The West/North West Hospitals Group has decided to suspend the public and stakeholder engagement processes of its review of maternity services and to subsume its efforts into the national review of maternity services.
The Department of Health, the HSE and all staff concerned are being informed of this decision through the normal communications channels, said the HSE.
Mr Bill Maher, Group CEO of the West/North West Hospitals Group, stated: “It was our intention from the outset that our review of the models of care would feed into the national review of maternity services, which will be led by the Department of Health with input from the HSE.
“We have advised the Department of Health and the HSE that our Group will assist the national maternity review in whatever way we can.
“We will, of course, continue to implement the recommendations of the HIQA and other reviews where possible and considerable progress has been made in this regard.
“A new Group Director of Midwifery Services will take up her appointment shortly and this is a further demonstration of the Group’s commitment to ensuring that all women accessing our maternity services receive best care from the most appropriate professional in the most appropriate setting.”