Team appointed to investigate hospital where babies died

A six-person team has been appointed to investigate services at a Midlands hospital where a number of babies died in controversial circumstances over a six-year period.

The team, which includes a patient advocate, clinicians, and a governance expert, will examine safety, quality, and standards of services provided by the HSE to patients at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

It includes veteran patient advocate Margaret Murphy, from Montenotte, Cork, whose son Kevin died in 1999, aged 21, following a litany of errors in his care.

Ms Murphy has presented on patient safety issues both nationally and internationally and plays a key role in a World Health Organisation patient safety programme.

There are two obstetricians, including Dr Meabh Ní Bhuinneáin of Mayo General Hospital, and Prof James Walker of the University of Leeds.

UK-based consultant midwife Mai Buckley is on the team, as is Patrick Loughran, retired clinical director of Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry.

Martin Turner, governance expert and former chief executive for the Adelaide Health Service in South Australia, completes the team.

They will look at the extent of serious adverse incidents at the hospital, the HSE’s response to such incidents, and whether lessons are being learned.

They will also examine how the HSE deals with patients, in terms of communication, and how it conducts its relationships with them.

The investigation was initiated by Health Minister James Reilly after a report into perinatal deaths at the hospital found the maternity services neither safe nor sustainable.