Portiuncula Hospital

Apology issued over ongoing delays to Portiuncula maternity review

An apology has been issued to the families at the centre of the Portiuncula Hospital maternity review over the continuing delays to the investigation.

The review is examining the care given to babies in 18 cases at the Ballinasloe facility and was inititally due to be completed last year. However, it has been hit by a series of delays and setbacks.

The Saolta University Health Care Group, which oversees the local hospital, apologised to the families over the delays which it said were caused by 'the complexity and scale of the work to be undertaken.'

It was reported recently that parents have had to repeat interviews they gave to the review because of the appointment of new personnel.

When asked about this, Saolta said: 'Due to the unavailability of the assigned investigators to complete their reviews, two new investigators have been assigned to one family. The Group will not be commenting further publicly on any individual case.'

The statement from Saolta said its management, and the HSE, recently met with a number of the families at the centre of the review to provide an update on its progress.

The families are each due to receive a 'draft chronology detailing the individual timeline of the events relating to their case to check for accuracy and provide feedback in advance of the completion of the review.'

'In addition to meetings with families, there have been 250 staff interviews carried out involving the 18 cases.

'The Saolta Group regrets any distress that is being caused to the families involved and has offered any services that families may require to support them in dealing with the issues that arise.

'Regular re-audits at the maternity unit at Portiuncula Hospital have confirmed that there is no continuing patient safety concern arising from the issues identified,' the statement said.

The review was initially intended to focus on the care provided to seven babies at the hospital between February and November of 2014.

Two of the seven babies died, while a further five had evidence of oxygen deprivation (hypoxia) during delivery. The number of cases to be examined was later increased to 18.