28.01.2013
Master of Rotunda Hospital Address St Patrick’s Cathedral Commemoration Service
A service to commemorate the tercentenary of the birth of Bartholomew Mosse, founder of the Rotunda Hospital, took place in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, on Sunday January 27.
The service was presided over by the Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral, the Very Revd Victor Stacey, who welcomed the large congregation and highlighted the links between the Rotunda Hospital and the Cathedral.
Among those in attendance were members of the governors and staff of the hospital including the hospital’s Master, Dr Sam Coulter Smith (who delivered the address), the chairperson of the hospital’s Board of Governors, Hilary Prentice; and the Secretary/General Manager of the hospital, Pauline Treanor. Representing the Lord Mayor of Dublin was Cllr Padraig McLoughlin.
The address was given by Dr Coulter Smith who detailed the history of Bartholomew Mosse and his efforts to build an institution where mothers could be delivered safely and doctors and midwives could be trained in the art of midwifery. His dedication resulted in the opening of his first hospital on St George’s Lane in Dublin in 1745 which was later followed by the construction of the Rotunda Hospital on Parnell Square which opened in 1757.
Dr Coulter Smith said there had been fantastic new developments within the hospital with a new labour ward, new theatre, new intensive care and new emergency room facilities. However, he said many parts of the hospital where care is provided for women and babies were not fit for purpose.
“We still have the old Nightingale wards, with 8 and 10 beds and even extra beds at times. We still have a situation where enormous numbers of women attend the hospital for antenatal care that should be provided in the community. We’ve an emergency room where each year, 25,000 women attend with pregnancy complications. That’s busier than many casualty departments around the country,” the hospital’s Master stated.
He added: “We currently look after about 10,500 maternity patients a year. We’ve just completed two of the busiest years in the history of the hospital with record numbers of deliveries in 2011. In 2012, we had one twenty–four hour period where 42 deliveries took place and just after Christmas we had a twelve–hour period where we had 22 deliveries. That level of activity is simply unsustainable when patient safety and quality of healthcare must be paramount.”
Dr Coulter Smith said that Bartholomew Mosse would have been very proud of the quality of care and high standards achieved by the hospital. But he said that the founder would have been horrified to see that the postnatal wards had not changed since his time as Master. He would have also been disappointed at the levels of funding and facilities provided for the care of the pregnant women of Dublin.
He explained that Mosse lived at a time when Irish doctors and nurses led the world setting standards, driving innovation and pushing the boundaries of medical practice.
“Now, we’re moving to a situation where our doctors, nurses and midwives are under valued, under resourced, and are being asked to work from institutions which are not fit for purpose,” he stated. “If we’re not careful, we will lose completely our most valuable assets. We spend large amounts of money teaching and training our medical and nursing graduates, only to lose them to distant shores and other health services. We must encourage those who make decisions and fund our health services to recognise the value and skill we have within our medical and nursing population.”
The full transcript of Dr Sam Coulter Smith’s address can be read here.