Maternity hospital inquiry welcomed

Roisín Molloy, whose son, Mark, died after being born at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise two years ago, says she is happy with the scope of the health watchdog’s investigation of the hospital’s maternity services.

Ms Molloy was commenting on the publication yesterday of the Health Information and Quality Authority’s (HIQA) terms of reference for its inquiry into maternity services at the hospital after the death of five babies since 2006.

Ms Molloy, who described the terms of reference as comprehensive, said the investigation was needed to establish why healthy babies continued to die at the hospital and no one said “enough was enough”.