Maternity staff training inadequate, says scathing report

Inadequate staff, substandard skills and training, a lack of input for midwives, poor communication, delays in intervening when issues arose during labour — these are just some of the deficiencies identified in a damning report on maternity services in Portiuncula Hospital.

That report probed the delivery and neonatal care of 18 babies at the Galway hospital between 2008 and 2014. Of those 18 babies, six died and six have medical issues of varying severity.

An external team, headed up by James Walker of the University of Leeds, was commissioned to carry out its investigation in 2015 after concerns had been raised about maternity services at the hospital.