National Maternity Hospital eases visiting restrictions around maternity care

Good news for expectant mums and dads in and around the Dublin area today as the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) on Holles Street have released new visiting guidelines, allowing “unrestricted” visits for partners of pregnant women.

This wonderful news comes after over a year of pregnant women in Ireland having to attend appointments alone, with some delivering babies alone and others hearing that they’ve miscarried without the support of their partner beside them due to Covid-19 restrictions around maternity care.

Announcing these new guidelines on Thursday, August 12, the National Maternity Hospital outlined that soon-to-be dads and partners of pregnant women will now be given unrestricted visits to antenatal, postnatal and gynaecological wards while the mum-to-be is an inpatient between the hours of 8am and 9pm.

Visiting will also be unrestricted to one nominated partner while the mother is in labour and admitted to a bed, whether that be delivery suite births, c-sections or inductions.

Visiting will also be unrestricted for partners attending the early pregnancy assessment unit and the 20-week anomaly scan.

The NMH have also outlined that visiting is unrestricted to parents of babies in their neonatal unit (NICU). Meanwhile, if the mum-to-be needs to attend the emergency department, her partner is welcome to join the consultation with the Emergency Department clinical team.

Visiting guidelines update

Our #visitingguidelines are under constant review as we strive to do our very best to help protect women, babies & staff, while providing a safe environment in line with government guidance.

Visit https://t.co/tvnMxJiCBf for full details. Thank you pic.twitter.com/xkb9UWUlf0

— The National Maternity Hospital (@_TheNMH) August 12, 2021

However, they have also outlined that due to social distancing requirements and lack of space, partners of pregnant women will not be allowed to join them in the antenatal outpatient department. Exceptions may be made though on compassionate grounds.

“Our #visitingguidelines are under constant review as we strive to do our very best to help protect women, babies & staff, while providing a safe environment in line with government guidance,” they explained on social media.

You can find out more about the maternity guidelines at the National Maternity Hospital here.