Coombe to take control of maternity services at Portlaoise hospital

The Coombe Hospital in Dublin is to take over the running of maternity services at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

A memorandum of understanding between the hospitals was signed in Dublin this morning.

It comes days after a draft HIQA report into the deaths of five babies at Portlaoise was highly critical of the hospital and senior management in the HSE.

"I came for a meeting where the [memorandum] was signed," said Health Minister Leo Varadkar. "The Coombe [will] begin the process of taking over maternity services in Portlaoise.

"That was one of the key recommendations of the chief medical officer's report a number of months ago. I'm glad we're seeing actual progress on that now."