A decision by the Western Health Board to suspend a home births programme and redirect its funding to employing extra consultant staff is set to cause further friction between it and the Department of Health.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, who earlier this week extolled the virtues of a similar home births programme at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles Street, has expressed surprise at the decision.
The health board's flagship hospital in Galway, University College Hospital, was chosen, along with Cork's University Hospital and Holles Street in 1999, to pilot the home births scheme.
When the plan was announced the Western Health Board's then programme manager Mr William Moran said the scheme was an attempt to meet the statutory rights of women who chose, after full consultation with doctors, to have a home birth. He said the Ombudsman had stressed the statutory duty of the health boards to provide the service.
Last night, the health board, in a statement, confirmed no new patients were being accepted onto the scheme "at this time".
It said the health board had agreed in its 2003 service plan that a consultant neonatologist to look after very premature babies and a consultant obstetrician should be appointed "to meet both the volume and complexity of cases presenting" and it had decided to divert funding from domiciliary home care services to do this.
The 90 patients who had already booked in to have babies under the home birth scheme would be attended to and should all have been dealt with by September, it added.
The scheme had become increasingly popular during its short existence. Up to 40 mothers were delivered under the scheme in its first year and 150 in its third year.
A spokeswoman for Mr Martin said last night: "The Minister is surprised and wasn't aware of it [the scheme's suspension]."
The Western Health Board also ran into conflict with the Minister last August when it said it would have to lay off 200 staff to stay within budget. The Minister disputed the need for such extensive cuts.