Updated Maternity Visiting Guidance for Partners at University Hospital Galway

In line with recent national guidance on visiting (published on hpsc.ie), the Maternity Department at University Hospital Galway is facilitating the following access for birthing partners/parents since Monday 05 July:

·       Birthing partners of women in labour are welcome to attend and partners can attend a caesarean section done under regional anaesthesia. Partners will be subject to screening questions and wearing PPE.

·       Partners may visit St Catherine’s Ward and St Angela’s Ward daily between 8am and 9pm.

·       Parents of an infant in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit may visit, one parent at a time.

·       A partner or support person may attend for all scans, including EPAU.

·       Partners can attend the High Risk Antenatal Clinic.

·       For all other clinics, please discuss partner access with the Clinical Midwifery Manager prior to attending the appointment. This is due to the need to monitor capacity within the clinics and maintain social distancing.

• The Maternity Department does not facilitate partners to stay overnight on the antenatal and postnatal wards.

Helen Murphy, Director of Midwifery at UHG said, “As a Maternity Department we aim to empower each woman to have a positive labour and birth experience and to enable each woman to have the support of the birthing partner of their choice during every stage of their labour, including induction of labour and birth.

“As part of the measures to protect women, babies and staff, partners must wear a face mask at all times, maintain social distancing and use the available hand gel to clean their hands regularly.

“If a partner has COVID-19 symptoms, is awaiting a COVID-19 test or test result or has had a positive test within the last 14 days they must not come to the hospital. In this event an alternative birth partner may attend.

“Our priority is the safety of all our patients and staff and we want to do everything we can to ensure our hospital is protected from the ongoing threat of COVID-19. We continuously review activity in the department taking into account the local infrastructure and the necessity at all times to maintain social distancing.”

The details of the visiting restrictions in the Maternity Departments are updated regularly on the HSE website at:

https://www2.hse.ie/services/hospital-service-disruptions/hospital-service-disruptions-covid19.html

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