Maternity units report 75 ‘extreme incidents’ in 2014

Seventy-five “extreme incidents” causing death or serious incapacity were reported by maternity services last year, according to a new report.

In 38 of these incidents, the baby died and the mother in four of them, the review by the State Claims Agency shows. It says not all of the incidents were avoidable due to factors such as early prematurity of the baby or congenital abnormality.

The number of incidents reported by the Irish maternity services is not dissimilar to international figures where comparisons are available, according to the agency.

Thirty claims have been closed in relation to foreign bodies left in maternity patients over the past decade, the report also found. It says the implementations of guidelines that are standard in operating theatres, such as counting the number of sharps and swabs used before and after delivery, are critical to improving this record.

Total expenditure on maternity-related claims has increased 80 per cent in four years, from €32 million in 2010 to €58 million last year. Spending on cerebral palsy claims jumped 77 per cent, from €27 million to €47 million, over the same period.

The report found a wide variation in the extent of reporting of patient safety incidents by different maternity hospitals and a lack of standardisation about severity of injury.

The six most common maternity claims were severe perineal tears; shoulder dystocia; stillbirth; unexpected neonatal death; cerebral irritability/neonatal seizure; and “other”.

The agency says the number of claims in each of these categories has either remained static or reduced since 2012.