HB report 2023
1.2 Geographical distribution
In 2023, the Dublin Mid Leinster region continued to report the highest proportion of women registering for home birth, with 181 women (46.8%). This marks a slight decrease from 2022 (43.8%) but still represents nearly half of all home birth registrations in the country (Table 1).
As in previous years, these numbers include women who registered through both self-employed community midwives and integrated hospital community services (IHCS). The majority of women (n=340, 87.9%) received their care from an SECM, while 12.1% (n=47) were cared for by an IHCM.
Table 1: Distribution of women who were registered for home birth by HSE area/year, 2021-2022
| HSE area/year
|
Dublin North East (N=207) |
Dublin Mid Leinster* (N=499) |
HSE West (N=97) |
HSE South (N=387) |
HSE South East (N=59) |
All areas (N=1249) |
| 2021 |
76(17.7) |
129(30) |
44(10.2) |
161(37.4) |
20(4.7) |
430(100) |
| 2022 |
76(17.6) |
189(43.8) |
36(8.3) |
113(26.2) |
18(4.2) |
432(100) |
| 2023 |
55(14.2) |
181(46.8) |
17(4.4) |
113(29.2) |
21(5.4) |
387(100) |
Note: Values are shown as n(%) unless otherwise stated. Frequency tables for each category are available and can be accessed through the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland. *From 2022, HSE Dublin Mid Leinster includes the Coombe Hospital and NMH registered home births.
In 2023, most homebirth registrations occurred in two units; the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) and Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH), each accounting for 23.3% of all registrations, though NMH saw a slight decline compared to previous years. Waterford and Wexford both saw an increase, more than doubling their 2022 figures. Despite a drop in overall registrations (from 432 in 2022 to 387 in 2023), the distribution remained geographically diverse. At the time of writing this report, the home birth service in University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) was not available.