Maternity care campaigners due to meet with HSE, says Donnelly
Mel and Lisa Duffy, from Mountrath, Co Laois, outside Portlaoise Coroner's Court after the inquest into the death of their baby son Luke, who died at Portlaoise Hospital in October 29, 2018. Picture: Neil Michael
Campaigners for better maternity care are to meet with the HSE following calls to the Health Minister to carry out a review into 21 baby deaths that have happened since 2013.
Safe Births Ireland helped compile the list of deaths over the last 10 years in Irish maternity units potentially avoidable.
Sixteen of these deaths resulted in a verdict of medical misadventure at inquests.
It follows the Portlaoise baby deaths scandal that emerged in 2014, which then led to the publication of new clinical guidelines for maternity units across the country.
Lisa Duffy, whose son Luke died in October 2018, said there "needs to be an urgent look at what is going on because, despite all the reports and recommendations, babies are still dying after alarmingly similar issues".
An inquest into Luke's death was ruled a medical misadventure at Portlaoise Hospital.
Mr Donnelly has now said the HSE and the National Women's and Infants Programme are due to meet with Mel and Lisa Duffy.
"I have read the asks of Mel and Lisa Duffy, and for anyone who has lost a much loved and most wanted baby, it is absolutely devastating. We take their calls, and I take their calls very, very seriously," he told RTÉ's .
Mr Donnelly said the new guidelines that are being launched next year speak "exactly to what Mel and Lisa Duffy are talking about, which is the monitoring of the heartbeat of the foetus and of the baby".
He added he wanted the agency to "listen very carefully."
"The advice I have over the 21 baby deaths where there was a coroner's inquest is that there has been no trend identified in terms of baby heart monitoring," the minister said.
"But what I imagine we will see that is the kind of actions that they are looking for around extra training for all maternity units, national guidelines to be put in place. They are the things we are working on."
He reiterated it was important to "listen directly" to the people involved and to hear from them about what they want.
"So that is the next step now, is a meeting where the agency can hear directly from them as to what their concerns are and walk through with them very important things that are happening next year in terms of training about guidelines."
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