UCC SONM 25 Year Book

UCC / School of Nursing and Midwifery

Maternity Hospital services in Cork

Dr. Rhona O’Connell

Historically, four main hospitals, a number of private Nursing Homes and district hospitals provided maternity care in Cork city and county. The main centres were the Erinville Hospital, the Maternity units at St. Finbarr’s and the Bon Secours. The Victoria Hospital also had a small maternity unit.

ERINVILLE HOSPITAL

The first Cork Lying –in Hospital had eight beds and was established on Hanover Street in 1798. This was set up from voluntary subscriptions to provide care to the deserving poor; these were married women who were recommended by subscribers. In the early years, the beds were seldom full. Later, the hospital moved to Dyke Parade and then to Nile Street, at this stage birth numbers increased and about 300 to 500 women gave birth in the hospital each year. In 1898, the Cork Lying in Hospital moved to what became the Erinville Hospital. This was previously a private house but was suitable for adaptation to a maternity hospital. In 1945, Erinville was reported to have 25 beds and provided care for the relief of poor married women. Women could be attended in their own home free of charge. A free antenatal clinic was provided two mornings a week which was attend by a doctor and a midwife. A new building attached to the Erinville was opened in 1963. The Erinville remained a voluntary hospital with a Board of Governors until 1977 when it was incorporated into the Southern Health Board (SHB).

Erinville Hospital

ST FINBARR’S MATERNITY

In the early days of what became St. Finbarr’s Hospital, destitute women gave birth in the South Union Workhouse, these were mainly unmarried mothers. Few babies survived. The maternity services expanded in 1903 when a separate unit was constructed. The new unit continued to provide care, mainly for unmarried mothers, until the Bessborough Centre opened in the 1930s. By the 1950s there was increasing demand for beds from married women as more women with straightforward pregnancies were encouraged to give birth in specialised maternity units. In 1952 a new maternity unit was built on the St. Finbarr’s Hospital site and operated until 2007.

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