Photo right owned by MarianF55 (cc) On a recent visit to the Coombe Women’s Hospital for an antenatal appointment with my midwife she shared some great news with me. We were chatting about this and that and she told me that she had done her training on the Domino Scheme in the National Maternity Hospital in Holles St. This is the scheme under which I had Nipper 1.0 and 2.0. Domino stands for Domiciliary/ In and Out. It means that mothers on the scheme can have their babies at home or go in, have their baby and then go home within 6 to 12 hours if everything checks out. These schemes are woman centred and open only to women with uncomplicated pregnancies (e.g. no first timers over 35, no multiple pregnancies, no previous caesarean etc.) Expectant mothers are looked after by a team of midwives but if required can always be referred to a specialist.
I found my experience on the Domino Scheme in Holles st. really empowering and the quality of care was top notch considering the Victorian-era hospital in which they work. I never had to wait for an appointment and in fact when I opted for a home birth in my second pregnancy I had all my appointments at home. Can you imagine if these schemes were available to women all over Ireland how much time would be saved? Surely the recent Swine Flu “epidemic” underlines the need to keep at risk groups from congregating? There will of course always be women who need specialist care and there will of course always be women who think they need special care but I feel the Domino scheme gave me very special care.
Anyway the good news is that the Coombe have finally got the go-ahead for their Domino Scheme and will start taking bookings soon for August/ September babies. So if you have just found out you are pregnant and you are outside the catchment for the Rotunda or Holles St. give the Coombe a ring and book yourself in. You won’t regret it!
(Oh and yes I have great plans for a post about the poor state of websites and the pathetic use of online services among health care services in Ireland.)
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