Portlaoise Hospital's maternity services put under special HSE control
Department of Health report into the death of four babies at Portlaoise Hospital says hospital should apologise unreservedly to the patients concerned.
The Health Minister ordered an investigation by the department’s chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, following a report by RTE’s Prime Time.
The initial report showed that families and patients were treated in a “poor, and at times, appalling manner with limited respect”.
It stated that the maternity service at Portlaoise “lacks many of the important criteria required to deliver on a stand- alone basis a safe and sustainable maternity service”.
“Poor outcomes that could likely have been prevented were identified and known by the hospital but not adequately and satisfactorily acted upon.”
The report concluded that the Portlaoise Hospital Maternity Service cannot be regarded as safe within its current governance arrangements. The HSE has put a special team in place to control maternity services at Portlaoise Hospital.
After speaking to the families affected, Minister James Reilly said: “It’s very clear to me that there were an awful lot of issues raised by the families which they found deeply upsetting – sometimes dehumanising – and I really believe there is no room for that in a modern health service that’s supposed to be patient-centred.”
A HIQA investigation is currently underway.
