Members of the public are being asked what they would like to see in the new National Maternity Strategy.

Last April, the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, announced the appointment of a steering group to prepare a new National Maternity Strategy for Ireland.

According to Minister Varadkar, this strategy will ‘put the needs of mothers, babies and their families at its centre'.

"The focus will be on maximising patient safety, quality of care, clinical outcomes as well as the desirability of greater patient choice, the move towards more services in the community, and a renewed focus on prevention and wellbeing," he explained.

As part of this, a public consultation process has just been launched, which is calling on members of the public, particularly patients, to ‘make their views known to the Department of Health about what they would like to see in the strategy'.

Maternity services have been the subject of major criticism for some time, due to cases such as the death of Savita Halappanavar in Galway in 2012 and the unexpected deaths of five babies in Portlaoise Hospital in recent years.

Minister Varadkar acknowledged that maternity services in Ireland ‘have come under much public scrutiny recently'.

"There is a clear need to provide reassurance in terms of safety, quality and choice, and I want to hear the views of patients and members of the public in these areas. I want to know what areas of the maternity services people perceive to be good and bad," he commented.

He said that in recent weeks, he has heard ‘some horrific accounts of first hand experiences'.

"Others have been full of praise for the service they received. So we would like to find out what areas do we need to improve, and how can we do this?"

This consultation process is open to all members of the public. It will run until Wednesday, July 15. To give your views, click here

For more information on pregnancy, see our Pregnancy Clinic here