Public Care

There are two options you can choose under Public Care: Hospital or Community Based Outpatient Care

Option 1. Hospital Outpatient Care

Antenatal care is provided in the Hospital’s Outpatient Clinic, combined with your General Practitioner or one of our outlying satellite clinics. There are two types of care offered, Consultant-led care and Midwifery-led care.

a) Consultant-led care
With Consultant-led care, a Consultant Obstetrician will have overall responsibility for your care, but you will not see that same Consultant at every visit. If you are admitted to hospital during your pregnancy your care will be managed by the Consultant on duty for that day. When you arrive at the hospital for the birth of your baby you will be cared for by the labour ward midwives and a medical team of Doctors (if necessary). If any problems arise the Consultant on-call will be involved.

b) Midwifery-led care
Midwifery-led care provides an opportunity to avail of a personal service where women with low risk pregnancies are cared for by the same midwives for all their antenatal care. This clinic is run in conjunction with a consultant-led clinic.


Most women are entitled to free maternity care as a public patient based on residency in Ireland; non-EU Nationals must contact their local Health Office to determine their eligibility for free maternity care.

Included in your care   

  • 12-week fetal wellbeing check
  • Combined visits with your GP
  • Consultant/Senior Registrar visit at booking
  • Option for midwifery-led care within the hospital
  • Option for satellite clinic attendance in the Wicklow area
  • Option to attend midwifery satellite clinic in south Dublin after 1st Outpatient consultant visit
  • Anomaly ultrasound scan at 20 – 22 weeks
  • Postnatal bed in a public 6-bed ward
  • Access to Early Transfer Home (12 – 36 hours after delivery)  (Depending on your catchment area)

 

 

 

 

 

Option 2. Community Based Hospital Care

This service is run by experienced midwives and obstetricians with a philosophy to facilitate a healthy pregnancy and ultimately a healthy mother and baby following discharge. A midwife’s role is to assess and advise pregnant women, to determine that everything is normal or make appropriate decisions if there is a deviation from what is considered the norm. 

To be eligible for the service, you must live within a specific catchment area, be healthy with no history of any illness that may affect your pregnancy including previous caesarean sections and be willing to have your postnatal care in your  own home 6 - 36 hrs after the birth of your baby provided there are no complications.

In Community based care there are two options: Community based antenatal clinics for women who need obstetric involvement and a Domino Homebirth service for low risk women suited for midwifery care

a) Community based hospital run clinics
The Community midwives are experienced in midwifery-led care and work with consultants based in the community.

Included in your care

  • Designated team of midwives supported by the NMH multidisciplinary team.
  • Timed appointments with shorter waiting times and more time for discussion carried out in designated satellite clinics by Domino midwives.
  • Access to hospital facilities, e.g. blood tests and ultrasound scanning where medically required
  • Physical and emotional support during pregnancy, labour and early parenthood
  • Birth your baby with the assistance of a hospital based midwife at The National Maternity Hospital
  • Postnatal care in the comfort of your own home.

b) Domino Homebirth service

The Domino/Homebirth team aim to facilitate women to achieve a normal, natural birth. To do this we actively encourage women to prepare the mind and body for pregnancy, labour and their adaptation to parenthood.

As a team we strongly promote active birth. We encourage all women to use natural methods to help with the contractions, e.g. movement, massage, heat packs, water and good mental attitude. This enables all women to be actively involved in the birth of their baby. We, as midwives, have seen the benefits of this approach. We have an Instagram page for you to learn more about the service we offer and you can read some lovely birth stories from our service users.

Included in your care

  • Birth your baby with the assistance of a Domino midwife at The National Maternity Hospital or in your home.
  • Designated team of midwives supported by the NMH multidisciplinary team.
  • Timed appointments with shorter waiting times and more time for discussion, carried out in designated satellite clinics by Domino midwives.
  • Access to hospital facilities, e.g. blood tests and ultrasound scanning where medically required
  • Physical and emotional support during pregnancy, labour and early parenthood
  • Postnatal care in the comfort of your own home.
  • The service the Community Midwives offers is for women with normal medical and obstetric history. If for some reason your pregnancy moves outside the limits of normal, the community midwives will refer you to see an obstetrician in NMH.