The North Eastern Health Board has passed a motion mandating its chief executive officer to avoid suspending maternity services in Dundalk and Monaghan by urgently seeking approval to appoint five new consultants to the units.
However, the CEO, Mr Paul Robinson, said there was no guarantee the board's insurers would continue to provide public liability cover for the units after the end of this month.
Whether the funding for the consultants, estimated at £400,000 each, will be provided on top of money already allocated to the board by the Department of Health is also unclear.
During a board meeting yesterday, Dr Alf Nicholson, consultant paediatrician, said it was unwise to continue to deliver at-risk babies in Monaghan and Dundalk and, while the intention of the motion was honourable, it was innately flawed.
Dr Nicholson said he had reviewed births and believed babies born in the maternity units in Monaghan and Dundalk were at a disadvantage. "The babies are disadvantaged by being born where there is no on-site paediatric cover, particularly so if they are premature. It is an unsafe option; the babies' health and welfare will suffer. Babies may die or be handicapped as a result of this [arrangement]."
The motion was proposed by Cllr Hugh McElvaney, a representative of Monaghan County Council, and supported by a majority of board members. It mandates Mr Robinson to urgently seek the appointment of additional consultant obstetricians and paediatricians for both hospitals to avoid suspension of maternity services.
At present, each unit has just one consultant. In its report, the Condon Review Group said the number of deliveries in Dundalk and Monaghan was not sufficient to support consultant-led services.
A letter from the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to the board's chairman was given to members yesterday. In it he said single consultant-led units were "no longer regarded as safe because competent and qualified clinicians must always be available at the delivery of babies, and the possibility of high-risk births taking place without the necessary professional back-up for mother and baby is no longer acceptable".
Mr Robinson had recommended the board temporarily suspend maternity services pending the outcome of a further review of maternity services.
He made the recommendation after the consultants with each unit expressed their concerns about the level of service available. Those concerns were taken into account by the Irish Public Bodies Mutual Insurances Ltd when it told him they would not be able to provide cover after February, "unless appropriate interim measures are implemented".
The CEO is to contact the insurers and outline the contents of the agreed motion to see if it will prompt them to change their opinion.