80 families have been meeting with the Health Minister for hours this evening recounting their tragic stories of babies born at Portlaoise.
A number of babies died at the hospital’s maternity unit in recent years, leading to an investigation by HIQA, whose report last week was heavily critical of standards at the hospital.
Some present at the meeting said the stories told were harrowing.
A report published by HIQA last week said the health watchdog could not conclude that services at the hospital were safe.
Leo Varadkar says major improvements have been made at the maternity unit in recent times, and says the hospital does have a future.
Minister Varadkar says he’d like to hear from families how Portlaoise Hospital can improve.
“I’d particularly like their advice around the patient advocacy service and how that should operate. They would know better than I would how it should work, having experienced the existing system,” he said.
“And secondly I will be asking them how they would like to see the future of this hospital develop,” he added.
The Health Minister is meeting with bereaved parents whose babies died at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise this evening.
A report published by HIQA last week said the health watchdog could not conclude that services at the hospital were safe.
Leo Varadkar says major improvements have been made at the maternity unit in recent times, and says the hospital does have a future.
Minister Varadkar says he’d like to hear from families how Portlaoise Hospital can improve
“I’d particularly like their advice around the patient advocacy service and how that should operate. They would know better than I would how it should work, having experienced the existing system,” he said.
“And secondly I will be asking them how they would like to see the future of this hospital develop,” he added.
Earleir today, Varadkar said a full inquiry by HIQA into maternity services at Cavan General Hospital is not warranted and a medical review is underway.
It comes after a baby died at the hospital yesterday - bringing to four the number of infants to die at there over a 30-month period.
Speaking about the death at Cavan General yesterday, Minister Varadkar says the death of a baby during a C-section delivery is rare.
Sheila O'Connor from Patient Focus says smaller hospitals often do not have the expertise to deal with difficult cases.
Yesterday, the chief executive of the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group told Newstalk that the maternity hospital in Portlaoise is now safe.
Dr Susan O'Reilly said there are a number of new resources and experts at the Midland Regional Hospital, since the publication of the highly critical HIQA report last week.
While Mr Varadkar has asked the HSE to come up with an action plan to improve conditions at the hospital.
