Mount Carmel Hospital will deliver its last baby today (January 31), after going into liquidation on January 24.

Liquidators were appointed to the hospital by the High Court after it said it was insolvent and unable to pay its debts, which are in the region of €35 million. The hospital, which had been operating since the 1940s, provided both maternity and general surgical treatment.

Unsuccessful attempts had been made to find either a private or public purchaser for Mount Carmel, and the Department of Health and HSE had recently decided against taking over the hospital.

It was the only remaining private maternity hospital in the country, catering for around 1,300 births each year.
According to the Mount Carmel Medical Group, 572 maternity patients have been affected by this liquidation, with 25 babies having been born since the decision to liquidate was made on January 24.

While the final delivery takes place today, postnatal services will remain available until all maternity patients have been discharged, most likely next Thursday (February 6).

"Maternity patients are being contacted and are in the process of transferring their care to an alternative facility with their existing consultant or to an alternative hospital. The helpline set up by the liquidators for the patients of the hospital has received a total of 720 calls," the group stated.

It noted that all three alternative Dublin maternity Hospitals ‘have confirmed their doors are open to transfer care'. To this end, they have established dedicated contact numbers for Mount Carmel patients*.

The group pointed out that all elective procedures at the hospital were cancelled as of January 24. Around 2,300 public patients had been referred to the hospital for treatment, of which ‘more than half had yet to be treated'.

"In the case of public patients, their original referring public hospital is currently seeking to reschedule their appointments at alternative facilities. In total, around 900 private patients were treated at the hospital each week. In the case of private patients, all are being contacted by their consultants to arrange an alternative appointment for their treatment," it said.

Meanwhile a redundancy process for staff will begin today, with some 200 staff immediately affected. The group confirmed that all wages and salaries due today (January 31) will be paid.

"The remaining redundancies will be implemented on a phased basis over the coming weeks. All staff who continue to be engaged by the liquidator after January 31 will be paid in full for any hours worked," it added.

*Mount Carmel maternity patients can contact Dublin's three maternity hospitals on the following numbers:

-The Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital - 086 601 1533
-The National Maternity Hospital, Holles St - 087 203 4921
-The Rotunda Hospital - 087 650 8671