Mums-to-be 'admitted' to Dublin hotel

Patients representatives have slammed a top Irish maternity hospital for renting hotel rooms for pregnant women because of a lack of beds.

Patients had to be checked into Jurys Inn, just yards from Dublin's Rotunda Hospital on the north side of the city.

Concern has been expressed for the women's safety as Ireland's Health Service Executive (HSE) defended the decision, claiming they are in the early stages of pregnancy and in good health.

Janette Byrne, of lobby-group Patients Together, criticised the move, saying it placed both the lives of the unborn child and mother at risk.

The revelation comes just days after it emerged the country's health service chief is being awarded an 80,000 euro (£56,000) performance-related bonus.

Rotunda Master Dr Michael Geary stressed that only those at the early stages of pregnancy and undergoing routine tests were affected.

He said: "We're trying to do something constructive and is safe and is sensible and is reasonably good for our patients.

"In an ideal world we'd love to have an unlimited amount of beds, but what we're doing here is taking a carefully selected two of three groups of patients who are well and have no symptoms and need to be in hospital because of tests on a daily basis, either for themselves or for the baby."

The Rotunda is one of three maternity hospitals in Dublin and was first established in 1745.

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