Hospital damned in baby deaths report

A Midlands hospital where four newborns died in similar circumstances over a number of years has lost control of its maternity services after a damning report found it was neither safe nor sustainable.

Yesterday, the HSE took the unprecedented step of installing an interim management team at Portlaoise Midland Regional Hospital while arrangements are made to effectively bring its maternity services under the control of Dublin’s Coombe Hospital.

The ramifications of the report’s findings are not confined to Portlaoise.