Limerick neonatal unit in crisis as staff shortages hit care for premature babies

Vivienne Clarke

Mary Fogarty, Assistant Director of Industrial Relations in the Midwest with the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has warned that due to a shortage of staff, it was not possible to provide “acceptable standards” to care for babies in the neonatal unit at University Hospital Limerick.

“The maternity hospital in Limerick is open and funded for 19 babies, 19 cots.

"However, for example, in the month of May of this year, 50 shifts within that unit were not filled, so they could not provide the acceptable clinical standards for care to those babies,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

“The unit as well is always over capacity, so it often runs 22 to 23 babies in there, and we must remember that these are the smallest, most pre-term babies and their chances of survival are directly related to having adequate nurse staffing levels in a neonatal unit.”

Fogarty said the HSE had imposed “a number strategy” on the hospital in 2024, which saw the loss of approximately 35 nursing midwifery posts.

“So when those posts are taken out and the funding is removed from the hospital, it is going to cause a crisis and we're really seeing that now. This was confirmed by Hiqa when they visited the hospital in October of 2025.”

In response to a statement from the HSE which claimed the INMO did not recognise the closure of beds that had occurred since the WRC agreement and that the INMO referenced an agreement from 2015 that did not reflect the current operational structure, Fogarty said the INMO did recognise the hospital had closed beds “and that brings us more concerns because it puts greater pressure on the remaining beds there to support women who come into the hospital.

“The hospital has eight beds closed. It has been unable to recruit because of a recruitment cap and a funding cap to fill those midwifery and nursing posts at the hospital. We've engaged with the HSE since last October on these issues, and to be honest with you, they appear to not understand the crisis that's there, and it's really come to a head now.”

The hospital was in a situation where INMO members were saying that they've had enough, that there's high levels of burnout, that they're extremely concerned about safety standards at the hospital, added Fogarty.

“For example 2015, we've an agreement at the hospital that the labour ward must have seven midwives on a 24-7 basis. That hospital struggles to maintain five midwives on a 24-7 basis.”

The birth rate at the hospital, of around 4,000 births per year, had not changed since 2015, whether beds were open or closed, she said.

Closing eight beds put greater pressure on the hospital, which has a very high caesarean section rate of up to 46 per cent.

“So women there in the hospital can't be discharged within 24 hours, they have to stay longer because they have caesarean sections, and so it is under significant pressure and for the HSE to come out this morning and say that they're going to fill 30 posts that has never been relayed to the INMO.

"They have articulated that they would employ their graduate midwives when they come out in next October when they register but at this point in time the hospital is in a crisis and needs assistance.”

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