About 150 women have been turned away for private care by consultants the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) over the last six weeks, as private maternity services begin to end in Irish hospitals. A senior clinician at one of the biggest maternity hospitals in the country said it was only the second time in almost 30 years that he could recall doctors at Holles Street refusing mothers who wanted to go private. Declan Keane, clinical director and former master at the NMH, said the end of private maternity care in publicly funded hospitals was “kicking in already” and “will be a real problem” over the next five years. Since January, new public-only contracts for consultants have come into effect which ban doctors from carrying out private work within public hospitals. Signing the new contract was voluntary for consultants on older public-private contracts, but compulsory for younger staff who have qualified since 2023. Keane told The Irish Times that three senior consultants at his hospital have retired in the last number of years and been replaced by public-only consultants. More retirements are expected over the coming three years. Just 12 out of 25 consultant obstetricians are on contracts that still allow them to provide private maternity care. “For the first time, unfortunately, the number of parents wishing to come to the NMH for private care is higher than the number of consultants we have to take on that number of women,” Keane said.[ Rotunda Hospital’s clash with Coalition over private maternity care deepensOpens in new window ]Most consultants can take between three and five private patients a week. The former master said that, according to an audit by the hospital, in the last six weeks almost 150 women who wanted to book private care with specific consultants have been told they cannot be accommodated and that the hospital’s capacity for private care has reduced. Keane said this is not a formal hospital policy but a decision informed by the capacity of individual consultants. “The majority of these are first-time mothers who want to book with a certain consultant, and that consultant can’t take them,” Keane said. He added that some women may choose to book a private consultant at either the Rotunda or the Coombe, or they may choose semi-private care at the NMH. “These women will still get excellent care, but that choice [to go private] will no longer be available to them,” Keane said. “It’s awful – we feel terrible about it.“In all my time here the only other occasion where Holles Street ever had to turn women away for private care was in 2004.” That year, the NMH suffered severe capacity issues due to overcrowding which resulted in women being warned that the hospital could be “booked out” between May and September. Keane said the pressure on private care has unfolded “exactly as I thought it would”. “I didn’t know it was going to kick in this quickly, I would say it will be a real problem within the next five years. Already we are starting to turn people away.”The NMH did not support the Rotunda’s now-abandoned decision to allow public-only consultants to continue offering private care, but Keane said he and his colleagues are seeking a derogation for maternity services from the Government’s plan to end private practice in public hospitals.