MANAGING SCARCE resources in one of Europe’s busiest maternity hospitals will be one of the biggest challenges to face its new master, the first woman head of a maternity hospital in Ireland said yesterday.
Dr Rhona Mahony, who took up her post as master of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin yesterday, said she hoped not only to deal with resource shortages but also to develop services at the hospital during her seven-year tenure.
Dr Mahony replaced Dr Michael Robson, whose term expired on December 31st. She was elected to the position by the hospital’s governors during last year.
From Dublin, the 41-year-old, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist and a specialist in foetal and maternal medicine, is married and has four children.
Speaking yesterday after continuing the tradition for new masters of knocking on the front door of the 118-year-old hospital, Dr Mahony said the hospital was at its busiest time in its history. She said almost 10,000 babies had been delivered there last year and productivity was up by 30 per cent compared to 2007. “So it is a huge challenge just even managing the numbers,” she said.
She said she hoped to develop the hospital’s community midwifery service and its gynaecology, as well as promoting research. But she acknowledged that none of the services provided at the hospital could be unaffected by funding issues. “We have to look all the time at how we can be more efficient and how we can deliver the best service possible,” she said.
Dr Mahony also acknowledged that infrastructure at the hospital was “a big problem”.
“This is a very, very old building, it is not custom-built for 2012,” she said.
While they were continuing to look at options including co-locating with an adult hospital, “for the time being” they would do their best in the current building.
Dr Mahony said she was proud of the services provided at the hospital including the community midwifery service.
Niall Doyle, deputy chairman of the hospital’s board of governors, welcomed Dr Mahony on behalf of the board. He said she was “outstandingly qualified to carry out the job”.
