Health watchdog to review 34 unexpected deaths in hospitals including 12 babies

External reviews are being carried out into the delivery of at least nine babies in Portiuncula Hospital in Galway.

Hiqa has launched reviews into 34 unexpected HSE hospital deaths since last November, new figures reveal.

They include 12 babies and 14 hospital patients who died while undergoing medical treatment.

Reviews are also under way or have been carried out into the cases of 33 babies referred for therapeutic hypothermia, also known as neo-natal cooling.

Issues around this procedure are at the centre of external reviews into the delivery of at least nine babies in Portiuncula Hospital in Galway.

In 2023, two stillbirths occurred there, and care provided in relation to them has also been the subject of external review.

The Hiqa review — which automatically follow each notification the watchdog gets under the new reporting requirements — also include a look into the deaths of three patients associated with medication errors.

Irish Patients’ Association chief executive Stephen McMahon said the figures given to the Irish Examiner were “sufficiently concerning to demand sustained governance focus” adding they “point to areas of systemic vulnerability”.

The incidents Hiqa has been notified about are among a total of 221 notifications the health watchdog has received since mandatory Patient Safety Act 2023 reporting requirements came into force in September 2024.

The act requires serious adverse events resulting in unanticipated deaths or outcomes of traumatic births to be notified to Hiqa by healthcare service providers.

Since the act came into force, the health watchdog has been notified of the “unanticipated and unintended” deaths of a total of 37 babies who were either born with no signs of life or who died around the time of their birth.

A further 11 cases involved the “unintended death of a patient where the cause is believed to be suicide” and another three cases involved the “unanticipated death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days” of having given birth.

The notifications received so far also include 53 unintended or unanticipated deaths directly related to any medical treatment, of which 14 have died since last November.

Of the seven patient deaths associated with a medication error that Hiqa has been notified of, three have died since last November.

Added to that, the 33 babies referred for therapeutic hypothermia now bring the total to 97 cases since September 2024.

Mr McMahon said: “While notifications do not in themselves indicate negligence, certain patterns are sufficiently concerning to demand sustained governance focus.

“A persistent challenge in improving patient safety remains the time responsible authorities take to translate awareness of a problem into operational change."

“Addressing this is essential to strengthening maternity and neonatal care.”

A Hiqa spokesperson said: “Hiqa reviews every notifiable incident received to consider all information pertinent to each occurrence, and can request terms of references, copies of reviews and resultant actions where identified.

“Hiqa can take a number of actions in relation to the information received. These include seeking further assurances from health services providers and carrying out inspections under Section 8 of the Health Act 2007.

“Where routine, risk-based or follow-up inspections are carried out of services, these include validating actions identified arising from the review of notifiable incidents by each service are implemented in practice.”