‘Maternity services are geographic lottery’

The lives of pregnant women and unborn babies are being gambled with due to a “geographic lottery” when it comes to standards in the country’s maternity services.

Leading patient group, the Association for Improvements in Maternity Services (AIMS) Ireland, made the claim after fresh revelations emerged over the quality of care at Portlaoise hospital.

On Thursday night RTÉ’s Prime Time revealed that a fifth maternity services incident, which led to a pregnancy not going full- term, occurred at the facility last year.

The incident, which involved a failure to read a heart scan properly, was not picked up by a Department of Health review of standards at the hospital’s maternity services which Health Minister Dr James Reilly called for after four other avoidable newborn deaths were detailed in January.

AIMS Ireland co-chairwoman, Krysia Lynch, said the incident shows there is “more to come”.

“There is a geographic lottery here. The programme showed that the scan was not checked properly and would have led to a different outcome if it had been at a different hospital. Not every hospital has this type of record [Portlaoise’s].

“A lack of staff does not explain the blatant mistakes that have happened,” she said, adding that a “cover-up culture” is apparent in some maternity services where families are not told when something goes wrong.

Thursday’s revelations involve Amy Delahunt’s pregnancy, which ended prematurely in May 2013. After becoming concerned about the health of her unborn baby, named Mary-Kate, Ms Delahunt and her partner Ollie Kelly went to Portlaoise for a check-up on May 21 — despite being due to attend another unit the next day.

A CTG scan was performed to hear the foetal heartbeat, and she was discharged. The couple, from Borrisoleigh, Co Tipperary, said Portlaoise medics told them there were “no concerns”, but the next day in Limerick nurses said there was no heartbeat.

A report found the scan at Portlaoise proved the pregnancy was “highly likely to be compromised” and that the baby needed to be delivered that day.

The couple only recently found out about the four previous incidents at Portlaoise, said they were left in the dark about wider issues, and hit out at the hospital for attempting to claim Ms Delahunt discharged herself without their permission.

The incident emerged after January’s revelations resulted in the health minister commissioning an investigation. This report has led the Health Information and Quality Authority to open a wider national review.

David Walsh, HSE Dublin Mid-Leinster regional director of performance and integration, said the latest case shows “significant shortcomings” at Portlaoise.

He said the family’s “very pertinent questions” as to what happened “can only be answered in the context of an independent review” which will begin “shortly”.

He said that, since the initial Department of Health report into Portlaoise, the hospital has come under new management, while the HSE’s director general, Tony O’Brien, has urged all health service staff to accept an “open disclosure” policy.

“We would encourage any member of the public who has a concern or complaint in relation to the treatment they received at Portlaoise to make contact with the hospital. Every effort will be made to ensure that their concerns are dealt with appropriately,” he said.