Portiuncula maternity unit reported 69 ‘clinical incidents' early this year as tenth external review into care gets under way
It comes as it emerged a recent baby death at the hospital is now being externally reviewed.
It brings to 10 the number of reviews into the care of women and babies now under way at the unit.
A new management team was installed by the HSE in January.
New figures show the hospital reported 69 clinical incidents over January and February as part of a system of monthly safety statements made individually by 19 maternity units and hospitals. The nature of the cases is not stated, but a clinical incident is an event or circumstance that could have or did result in unnecessary harm to the patient and is logged with a national monitoring system.
A spokeswoman for the HSE West and North West said yesterday she could not disclose the cause of death of the baby who recently died.
'We cannot comment on individual cases when to do so might reveal information in relation to identifiable individuals, breaching the ethical requirement on us to observe our duty of confidentiality. An external review process has begun and is currently finalising the terms of reference. We will await the outcome of this review,' she said.
In January, it was announced that seven cases of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which causes a lack of oxygen and blood supply to the brain, in 2024 and early 2025 were being reviewed externally. None of the children died.
Another two stillbirths, which happened in 2023, are also being reviewed.
We do anticipate receiving a number of reviews shortly. Once completed, the findings of each individual review will be shared with the families involved
News of the infant death will lead to renewed concern among parents.
Delays in providing answers have also added to anxiety and a number of the reviews were expected to be finalised around February.
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Asked about the delay, the HSE spokeswoman said the 'reviews under way are entirely independent and it is important to give them time and space to conclude'.
'We do anticipate receiving a number of reviews shortly. Once completed, the findings of each individual review will be shared with the families involved,' she said.
She added an external management team remains in place in to oversee all elements of maternity and neonatal care.
'The team is led by an external consultant obstetrician Dr Mark Skehan and includes a director of midwifery and a senior manager. The director of midwifery post was initially filled on an interim basis, and as planned, a more permanent placement has been made.'
Portiuncula went from having one baby being diagnosed HIE in 2023 to six last year – highlighting how the jump in numbers raised concerns.
No baby was diagnosed with HIE in 2022 and just one case was reported in 2021. Six of the cases under review involve babies with HIE born in the hospital last year and the seventh was delivered in early January.
Six of the babies needed therapeutic cooling treatment to reduce the risk of disability or death.
The lead reviewers in the separate reviews are Professor Fergal Malone, Professor Sam Coulter-Smith and Dr Sieglinde Mullers from the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin.
Shortly after her appointment as Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill visited the hospital and spoke to parents. She said it is 'most important that all appropriate steps are taken to prioritise patient safety and neonatal care at Portiuncula, and in every maternity hospital in Ireland'.
'I will continue to engage with the teams at Portiuncula while we await the completion of the reviews,' she said.
A 2018 report in to Portiuncula maternity care was carried out by Professor James Walker, who was professor of obstetrics at the University of Leeds at the time.
He led a team that looked at 18 perinatal events in the Galway hospital from 2008 to 2014.
The report found significant failings in some incidents, as well as serious errors of management in 10 cases that probably made a difference to the outcome for these babies.
Under the system of maternity care, smaller units such as Portiuncula are part of a wider network, with more complex patients referred to larger centres in the region.
According to the HSE, while the incidence of therapeutic hypothermia remains a critical concern, there has been a demonstrable reduction in cases. In 2020, there were 76 cases, compared to 53 in 2023.
Given the declining birth rate, this reduction may not be statistically significant, but it does indicate progress, it said. It is important to note that HIE, the condition that it treats, can arise from various obstetric complications, it added.
This includes placental abruption, uterine rupture, shoulder dystocia, cord prolapse, maternal collapse and foetal haemorrhage. The external investigators are to examine why the babies developed HIE and what problems might have happened during labour and delivery.
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