Leo Varadkar admits parents were treated with 'a lack of honesty'

Following lengthy meetings with grief stricken families, Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, has spoken out about the treatment received by these parents following the death of their children in the Midlands hospital in Portlaoise.

Commenting on findings published by HIQA, Mr. Varadkar acknowledged that the correct protocol was not adhered to and expressed concern that these failings were unlikely isolated events, saying: “You will probably find similar experiences across the country in lots of other hospitals too where people… they were handled with a lack of honesty.”

Determined to move on from the past of which he says he is 'ashamed', the minister insists that the lessons learned as a result of these failings be applied throughout the country's healthcare services, telling RTÉ’s This Week Programme: “That’s why we need to apply what we are learning from Portlaoise across the board.”

Looking to the future and acknowledging the importance of establishing an open line of communication between healthcare professionals and members of the public, Mr. Varadkar went on to say: “So one of the things I will be doing is bringing in legislation to protect open disclosure to make sure doctors, health professionals are in a position to give information up front to people.”

The lack of information offered to parents regarding the death of their children was dubbed 'extremely worrying' by Mr. Varadkar.