Louth TD calls for new regional IVF hub at Lourdes Hospital

Louth Labour TD, Ged Nash, is calling for the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda to become a regional hub for IVF treatment to address long waiting times for IVF patients living in Louth and attending the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.

Deputy Nash recently tabled a series of parliamentary questions relating to IVF treatment for Louth patients under the new and, what he calls, "very welcome public treatment programme", to the Minister for Health.

Deputy Nash commented: “I have been contacted by local couples whose wait for an initial appointment at the Rotunda is unacceptably long. I was shocked to learn that patients in Louth are waiting seven months for IVF treatment at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, when the HSE officially aims to have IVF referrals seen within six weeks.

“It has been confirmed to me by the RCSI Hospital Group that there are currently 78 people in County Louth who are on the waiting list for IVF treatment in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.

“The current average waiting time for those County Louth patients is a staggering. At seven months it is putting locals through an agonising wait in an already long, stressful and time-sensitive process.”

The Louth Labour TD continued: “It seems to me, the answer to these unacceptable delays is to work to establish a regional IVF treatment centre for the North-East at the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. If the service is to grow and to meet demand, this is what will need to happen.

“According to the National Women and Infants Health Programme, within the HSE, patients refer to one of the existing six regional IVF hubs should be seen within six weeks but the wait for Louth patients attending the Rotunda is now an average of seven months.

“I acknowledge there are a number of private providers of IVF services. The expense involved had put IVF out of the reach of too many. It is clear in the first year of operation that the six public regional hubs are insufficient to cope with the demand for these services.

“The Lourdes Hospital already has the expertise in obstetrics in place and would in my view be the ideal location to site a seventh regional hub, catering to patients seeking IVF treatment in the North-East.”

Deputy Nash concluded: “Access to IVF treatment cannot be allowed to become some kind of post-code lottery and patients from County Louth seeking this life-changing treatment cannot be put at any disadvantage, purely based on their address.

“I will continue to press the Minister for Health and the HSE on this issue and push for the establishment of a new regional IVF services hub for the North-East at the Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.”