New rules to impact private maternity care in hospitals

Updated / Saturday, 27 Dec 2025 16:56 From 1 January, the vast majority of consultants on 'public-only' work will not be allowed to treat private patients in public hospitals (stock image) Laura Fletcher By Laura Fletcher As of 1 January, the vast majority of consultants on public only contracts will no longer be able to treat private patients in public hospitals. This will effect consultants across all specialities, but will have a particular impact on access to private maternity services into the future as there are no private maternity hospitals. "We find that one in four women choose to access private care and not public care," said Master of the Coombe Maternity Hospital in Dublin, Professor Michael O'Connell. "Going down the line, that choice will be taken away," Professor O'Connell added, though he assured patients that little would change on 1 January. This is because there are currently two different type of consultant's contracts. There are contracts issued before March 2023, which allow consultants to practice privately in public hospitals. Then there is the 'public only consultant contract' (POCC) introduced in March 2023. Consultants who switched from the old contract to the 'public only' one in 2023 were given until 31 December this year to make the transition away from treating any private patients in public hospitals. From 1 January last year the transition period was shortened to six months. This effectively means that from 1 January 2026, the vast majority of consultants on 'public-only' work will not be allowed to treat private patients in public hospitals. So what impact will this have on obstetrics, where private maternity care by consultants is only offered in public maternity hospitals? "There won't be any great change initially," Professor O'Connell said. Professor Michael O'Connell said those on older contracts who retire will be replaced by those on 'public only' contracts This is because the consultant obstetricians who predominantly offered private maternity care in the Coombe Maternity Hospital are on pre-2023 contracts that continue to permit private practice in public hospitals. "It's just down the line, over time, as those on the older contracts retire, they'll be replaced with the 'public only' contract," Professor O'Connell said. He stressed that a woman's ability to choose private in-patient care in public hospitals will ultimately be taken away as this happens. Maternity care specialist and advocate Krysia Lynch has said that pregnant women do need choices and may be fearful of this choice being taken away, but she also believes that work needs to be done in ensuring that there is access to and information about other maternity options. Maternity care specialist and advocate Krysia Lynch said Ireland has very few maternity choices "This was a choice, it was a very popular choice among people who have private health insurance and one of the reasons people made this choice was that they wanted to get continuity of care, they wanted to see the same person all the way through their care," Ms Lynch said. She added: "However...

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