Maternity services review welcomed
But the patient advocate group says it wants assurances that such a review will take place regardless of the outcome of an internal review by the Department of Health’s chief medical officer.
Dr Reilly was speaking following the RTÉ Prime Time programme which revealed serious failures in the deaths of four babies delivered at Portlaoise between 2006 and 2012. All four were healthy when their mothers went into labour, but the programme found failures to recognise the degree of distress they were in as labour progressed, the improper use of a labour-accelerating drug which increased distress, delays in arranging emergency caesarean sections and the complete absence of foetal blood sampling which is a standard method of establishing if a baby is suffering oxygen deprivation.
