KILDARE: Ante natal services are to return to Naas
These will be provided at a new location
The Coombe Hospital’s ante-natal clinic is to return to Naas.
The clinic operated at Naas Hospital for two decades until the Covid-19 pandemic when the clinic was effectively stood down.
This meant that pregnant women from Kildare had to attend the Coombe in Dublin 8 for appointments.
Green Party councillor Bob Quinn, who was involved with the action group that sought a solution to the closure, pointed out the Naas clinic accommodated 500 appointments a month.
These covered consultant first visits, follow-up clinics, anatomy scans, growth scans, glucose tolerance test and blood pressure tests as well CTGs, and blood tests.
“A combination of low-risk and high-risk pregnancies were monitored at the Naas clinic. Women attending would have had all their care in Naas, only attending the Coombe for admission or when in labour,” said Cllr Quinn.
He added: “I was very aware of the inconvenience caused by the closure of the local clinic as my wife was pregnant with our third child after March 2020. I raised this as a Green Party meeting in 2022 arguing that Kildare women were being disadvantaged with every month that went by. “
The issue was then raised by Sen Vincent P Martin in the Seanad after it emerged that the clinic could not be accommodated in Naas Hospital.
“A cross party group has worked diligently over the last 12 months and identified suitable accommodation in Vista Primary Care (at Ballymore Road).
“This is a major win for the women of Naas and surrounding areas. Everyone had to work together to ensure the singular aim of reinstating the clinic for the women of Kildare was achieved. Having the clinic in Naas has a major convenience factor but there’s the environmental impact of travelling to the Coombe versus to Naas as well as creating emissions and the cost of petrol and parking.”
He said some women using the Luas have expressed concern for their safety “when they have to walk alone, heavily pregnant, from the Luas stop to the hospital and appointments for Naas women were typically in the late afternoon in the dark of winter”
The clinic will be set up in the coming weeks with an official launch in early 2024.