This morning the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) published its long-awaited report on child deaths in the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.
In a shocking indictment, the report found significant deficiencies and concerns over services at the hospital, and that the HSE failed to take action at a national level. It also said it cannot guarantee services are safe at the moment.
On today's Lunchtime show Jonathan Healy spoke with Roisín and Mark Molloy, whose son Mark died shortly after birth following complications in the hospital.
The couple have been looking for answers for years from the HSE, and are glad that serious pressure is now being brought on the HSE to account for its inaction.
The Molloy family have four children, all of whom were born in the same hospital. However, it was, Mark said, when “additional help was needed, things seem to go wrong.”
The birth of their son Mark jr was nine days late, and when labour began it progressed quickly. The baby became stuck, and the CTG – which monitors heart rate – switched to the mother rather than the child. Though initially a healthy weight and with a healthy heartbeat, by the time Mark was delivered he was "poor state and had a very faint heartbeat."
Resuscitation was attempted but he was declared dead 22 minutes later. The couple said they told staff that the ECG suggested their son was in trouble, but were ignored.
“When you go in and you have a healthy heartbeat on a CTG... and only four hours later you’re holding your dead son in your hands, you've got to ask questions,” Mark said.
Roisín said when they began to dig they found some startling facts:
“When we started this, we could believe the information we got back... There was no audits being done, there was no workshops being done, and babies were dying.”
The couple also spoke about the lack of sensitivity towards parents whose children had died – as was highlighted in the HIQA report:
“[Mark jr’s] hair was put in a ziplock bag on a card that said ‘smoking could seriously damage the health of your baby’ and ‘breastfeeding is best for your baby.’”
Roisín says she spoke with “women whose baby coffins put in M&S bags.”
She says the HSE was aware of issues at the hospital, and is responsible for further deaths by not acting:
“The HSE at national level knew what was happening and the allowed it to happen again. Our children didn’t matter.”
Tony O'Brien, Director General of the HSE spoke later on the show.
He said the organisation accepts and will implement the eight key recommendations made in the report.
When asked if he would apologise, O’Brien said most of the occurrences happened before he was appointed.
When quizzed on a recommendation made in 2013 by the Chief Medical Officer to ensure networking of senior clinical leadership between the Coombe and Portlaoise, O’Brien said a memorandum of understanding had been signed four weeks ago on the issue.
He said the logistics were highly complex, and this was the reason for the delay. O’Brien also confirmed women who require specialist treatment are now being redirected to the Coombe.
Though he admitted that the HSE and hospital staff “have to do better” in caring for bereaved families, he said he had not yet read the report –which was published at 10am – and would be unwise to speak at length about it.
