Ireland is ‘behind the curve’ on patient safety

Roisín and Mark Molloy, who fought for years to have their son’s death properly investigated, hope that new patient safety measures will mean no one else has to take on the health system on their own.

The death of their son Mark, minutes after he had been born in the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise in January 2012, was the catalyst for a wider investigation into a series of baby deaths in the hospital’s maternity unit.

Immediately after their child died, the Molloys wrote to management at the hospital outlining their concerns. Ignored, they sent a succession of warnings for two years to every level of the HSE and Department of Health outlining their concerns for the safety of other children following their son’s death.

Health Minister Leo Varadkar admitted yesterday that Ireland “was behind the curve” on patient safety, on quality, and how statistics were collected. While much had been achieved in recent years, a lot more needs to be done, he said.

Mr Varadkar announced a major package of patient safety reforms, including enhancing the powers of the Ombudsman, the creation of a national patient safety office, and a patient advocacy service to provide advice and detect worrying patient safety trends.

Ms Molloy recalled that in October 2012, as a last resort, they went to the Ombudsman’s office but the system did not allow the Ombudsman to intervene when there was a HSE investigation going on.

Last October, more than two years after it was completed, the HSE published the official report into the death of Mark Molloy.

The report was released at the request of the Molloys but the HSE told them it did not set a precedent for the release of reports into other controversial patient deaths within the health service.

Ms Molloy said she hoped the package of patient safety reforms would mean that no other patient would find they were up against a wall, completely isolated and left to take on the system on their own.

Mr Molloy said the patient advocacy service would mean people have a voice and somewhere they can go to get action. It would take a massive burden off patients and, hopefully, allow them to get answers quickly.

“After two years of trying to get answers from the HSE we eventually had to turn to the media to highlight our case and eventually get to where we are today,” he said.

“It is almost four years since Mark died now and here we are today with patient measures in place. It is a huge loss for us, not in terms of just losing Mark, but of the years of our lives lost as well.”

Mr Varadkar said that he was going to enshrine in law the right of patients to access their medical records, including test results stored in computers.

The Medical Practitioners Bill, which will be law by the end of the year, will require doctors to ensure they are adequately ensured.

“We do have doctors flying in and out of the country, often offering cosmetic surgery and other services who are potentially not properly insured,” he said.

The reforms also include a yearly patient experience survey.