Minister for Health launches four new Postnatal Hubs and the Postnatal Hub pilot evaluation
- Foilsithe:
- An t-eolas is déanaí:
The Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD has launched four new Postnatal Hubs for women attending the Coombe, National Maternity Hospital, Rotunda, and Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda.
The Dublin and Drogheda services have been established following the successful pilot of Postnatal Hubs in maternity units in Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Portiuncula, and Sligo.
Postnatal Hubs are designed to provide accessible, multidisciplinary care to women, infants and families in community-based locations. This includes vital services such as physiotherapy, health and wellness checks, feeding support, and birth reflections. Each Hub represents a first-year investment of €0.5 million. Further Hubs will be rolled out at four more locations later this year as part of Phase 3 of the project.
The Minister also launched an independent external evaluation report, into the first pilot hubs. The evaluation, commissioned by the Health Service Executive’s National Women’s and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP), found that Postnatal Hubs are functioning as a ‘one-stop-shop’, offering genuine ‘wrap around’ support for women in the postnatal period. The evaluation also describes the pilot hubs as a model for best practice in postnatal care, achieving impressive satisfaction ratings from women.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said:
“The expansion of our network of Postnatal Hubs demonstrates our continued commitment to listening to women and embedding women’s voices in policy.
“The first Postnatal Hubs were established as a direct response to the feedback from women in the first National Maternity Experience Survey. Women said that postnatal supports need to be strengthened, and we listened.
“A great amount of work was undertaken by the first five pilot Postnatal Hubs to create a new type of service that responds to this need, and I’m very encouraged by the independent evaluation which highlights the success and impact of the existing hubs. They are clearly bridging a critical gap in postnatal care.
“I am so grateful to the four hospitals for their collaborative spirit in setting up these new hubs, building on a strong foundation of community midwifery.
“An additional four hubs will open later this year, expanding access to these vital services to more women around the country and ensuring a more positive and healthier postnatal experience for both mum and baby.”
National Lead Midwife, NWIHP, Ms Angela Dunne said:
“We are delighted to mark the launch of the Phase 2 postnatal hubs, a significant and welcome development for women, babies, and families. The importance of enhanced postnatal care is well recognised, and these community-based hubs provide accessible, multidisciplinary support close to home at a time when many women benefit most from reassurance, connection, and practical support.
“Offering services such as feeding support, birth debriefs, mother and baby checks, physiotherapy, and both one-to-one and group supports, the hubs deliver flexible care that often extends beyond a single postnatal visit. Feedback from women has been overwhelmingly positive, as highlighted in the evaluation report by Deirdre Daly, which found strong satisfaction with the service and a clear call for more hubs and extended access to supports.
“This launch strengthens the growing national network of hubs and reflects a shared commitment to improving postnatal care and outcomes for families across the country. We look forward to continued collaboration with the Department of Health and colleagues across acute and community services to maintain this momentum and build on the strong foundations now in place.”
The community-based clinics for each postnatal hub are:
National Maternity Hospital, Holles St, Dublin
- Shankhill, Ballyboden, Arklow and Wicklow Primary Care Centres.
Coombe Hospital, Dublin
- Celbridge, Newbridge, Tallaght, Crumlin and Clondalkin Primary Care Centres
Rotunda Hospital, Dublin
- Hampson House, Rotunda Outpatients Department Building; Grove Court Primary Care Centre, Dublin 15; Coolock, Ballbriggan and Swords Primary Care Centres.
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda
- Bettystown, Kells, Castlebellingham, Boyne, Carrickmacross and Dundalk Primary Care Centres
Notes to Editor:
In 2021, a framework for a new model of community Postnatal Hubs in Ireland was developed in response to the findings of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) National Maternity Experience Survey (NMES) 2020, which demonstrated that postnatal care is an area identified by women as needing improvement.
In partnership with maternity networks and the Department of Health’s Women’s Health Taskforce (WHTF), in 2021 funding was provided to establish five pilot Postnatal Hubs around Ireland. The framework was underpinned by a desire to design and deliver postnatal care services that support and enable all women and their babies to thrive, through extended access to maternity health services that are specialised in providing tailored care in the postnatal period. These services included core midwifery care, lactation and infant feeding support, parent education, perinatal mental health support, bereavement support, and birth reflection services.
The five pilot Postnatal Hubs are based in Cork University Maternity Hospital, St Luke’s General Hospital Kilkenny, University Hospital Kerry, Portiuncula University Hospital Galway, and Sligo University Hospital. Currently, the five pilot Postnatal Hubs operate between two and five community-based clinics in various locations within the catchment of their maternity hospital, each set up to respond to the needs of the women in their catchment area.
Funding provided in 2024 through the Women’s Health Taskforce has enabled the establishment of four further Phase 2 Hubs, based in the National Maternity Hospital, Coombe, Rotunda, and Our Lady of Lourdes, Drogheda.
Four additional Hubs were also funded through National Maternity Strategy funding in Budget 2025, which will bring the national coverage to 13 out of 19 maternity services. These Hubs are currently in development in Waterford, Cavan, Limerick and Letterkenny, following an expression of interest process. Further physiotherapy supports are also being rolled out in all existing Postnatal Hubs. Each hub is estimated to cost in the region of €0.5m to establish with 6-10 additional Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff providing the service.
External Review
The independent external review of the pilot Postnatal Hubs was conducted by Prof. Deirdre Daly and Dr. Susan Hannon from Trinity College Dublin in 2025. As part of the research, interviews were conducted with Directors, their staff, health care professionals, women attending services, and the Health Service Executive’s (HSE’s) NWIHP. This evaluation was supported by a literature review of related evidence. The evaluation found:
- Compelling evidence that Postnatal Hubs are delivering meaningful improvements in postnatal care.
- Women using these services reported significantly higher satisfaction compared to the National Maternity Experience Survey 2020 baseline, namely in the attention paid to their physical and mental health in the postnatal period.
- Women highlighted the value of one-to-one appointments with midwives and access to timely, compassionate, and expert postnatal support.
- Women viewed the services as beneficial and even essential to their postnatal journey and recovery.
- Access to Postnatal Hub services meant that some women could avoid having to access acute services or other healthcare professionals for health concerns.
- There were very positive findings from staff working in the Postnatal Hubs in relation to their professional satisfaction.
National Women and Infants Health Programme (NWIHP)
The NWIHP leads the management, organisation and delivery of maternity, gynaecology and neonatal services within the HSE, strengthening these services by bringing together work that is currently undertaken across primary, community and acute care.