Portlaoise hospital report prompts Opposition criticism

Revelations about patient safety at Portlaoise hospital have raised serious questions for the Government that should be answered as a matter of urgency, according to Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher.

He was reacting to reports in The Irish Times, which said a draft Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) report found the Health Service Executive (HSE) failed to act on patient safety risks at the hospital.

The unpublished draft report by the State’s health watchdog should be made public immediately, Mr Kelleher said.

“We cannot be expected to wait any longer to get to the bottom of the tragic deaths of five babies at Portlaoise and to get answers about the wider safety concerns at Portlaoise,” he said.

“At the moment we are being subjected to a drip-feed of information revealing a litany of failures that raise extremely serious questions for Government and health service management at the highest level.”

Mr Kelleher said he was calling on Minister for Health Leo Varadkar to address the latest revelations of risks in both general acute services and the maternity unit and to outline what he was doing to ensure the report's publication would not be delayed further.

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said it appeared the HSE had been attempting to “stifle” the Hiqa report.

“I stated at the end of last month that the independence of Hiqa was being placed in the dock. It is now clear why the HSE was so unhappy with the draft report by Hiqa,” he said.

Blame

“I understand that the draft report places much of the blame for these tragic outcomes at all levels of the health services but that ultimately the HSE, despite knowing about a range of issues that all led to the loss of these precious young lives, did little to change the practices in place.”

He said the Hiqa report appeared to suggest tragic outcomes at Portlaoise hospital could have been averted if the recommended actions from previous reports were implemented.

Mr Ó Caoláin said the Government also had serious questions to answer.

He said the Coalition had decided to maintain the level of services provided at Portlaoise but failed to ensure that the HSE had adequate funding to provide these services.

“We must be able to reassure all families that action will be taken when problems are identified. Inaction is a failure too far and must never be tolerated across our health services in the future.”

Green Party spokesman on health Oisín Ó hAlmhain said Portlaoise was an example of a hospital that had suffered “the ebb and flow” of political patronage over many years.

"Successive TDs and ministers from the larger parties promising and then withdrawing support. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have stood in the way of rational and system-based healthcare, moving the resources from county to county, and this is the result."