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10 Governance Rep ts Gynaecologist and Heather Hughes, Clinical Midwife Specialist, the event maintained a strong clinical focus on first trimester issues addressing the multi- disciplinary approach to counselling and management of a wide variety of fetal malformation sequences across all organ systems. The availability and role of new technologies in 2020 including: cell free fetal DNA analysis, molecular karyotyping, expanded carrier screening and the future role of exome sequencing in day-to-day clinical practice was also addressed in the context of the Irish setting. The Hospital had a Research and Innovations Day in October, organised by Prof Fionnuala McAuliffe at which we presented the inaugural Declan Meagher Medal for research and Professor Colm O'Herlihy Medal for innovation. The year however was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. By early February, 2020 we became increasingly focussed on events in Northern Italy where colleagues and friends reported on the impact of the illness with hospitals overwhelmed and people dying on corridors and in emergency departments due to a lack of basic life support equipment. On the 10 th of February we held the first meeting of our multidisciplinary COVID-19 Task Force Team. Maternity is a unique speciality and babies wait for nobody. At the time of writing, more than 10,000 babies have been born safely at The National Maternity Hospital since the onset of the pandemic and there was no case of COVID-19 among them. Our task force team met daily for three months ensuring all aspects of care were managed appropriately including testing of patients and staff, isolating of suspected or confirmed cases, provision of appropriate personal protective equipment, distillation of evidence and guidance in real time and the expansion of our testing platforms to meet demands. In the initial weeks of the pandemic the internal building team, led by Facilities Engineering Manager Neil Farrington, created a 'hospital with in a hospital' allowing us to care for suspected or confirmed cases with the capacity to safely ventilate up to four patients, while also continuing to care for well patients and their babies. In recognition of their vital work during the Coronavirus Pandemic, all staff who worked at The National Maternity Hospital through 2020 were presented with an exclusively designed Commemorative Medal. The medal is a symbol of gratitude for all staff who have helped keep the hospital's patients and each other safe through COVID-19. The tsunami of disease and death thankfully never arrived in The NMH. We have had over one hundred patients and one hundred staff infected with COVID-19. The number of staff who were sick or self-isolating in the first weeks of the pandemic created significant challenges for us in terms of maintaining a safe environment. At one point we had 107 staff absent (10% of the workforce) due to sickness or the requirement to self-isolate as a close contact. During the first wave of the pandemic this continued to be a major concern. In the early phase of the pandemic we established a drive through swabbing service in the hospital car park, operated by the midwifery and medical staff allowing staff and patients to be tested without having to enter the hospital. As I write this report, I see a clear light at the end of the tunnel: reducing numbers of infections among patients and staff, most staff and increasing numbers of patients vaccinated, progress on the proposed co-location to the Elm Park Campus accelerating with funding for the operational readiness team and consultancy services available. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff for their selfless dedication to their patients over the past twelve months. Prof Shane Higgins Master