The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has published the National Women & Infants Health Programme’s Annual Report for 2021. The Programme was established in 2017 to lead the management, organisation and delivery of maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services and to drive the implementation of the National Maternity Strategy.
While the COVID-19 pandemic and the cyber-attack on HSE systems presented major challenges for maternity services in 2021, this Annual Report shows that significant progress was made in relation to the ongoing implementation of the Strategy. This progress was across a number of key prioritised areas, including the ongoing development and deployment of the supported care pathway across maternity services. In 2021, the Programme also implemented a number of gynaecology service developments, which included the roll-out of the Models of Care for Ambulatory Gynaecology and Infertility.