Mr. Ian Carter:

The recruitment that has commenced is open-ended. It involves working with the new director of nursing in trying to fill the basic grade of midwives and, as the CMO identified, to fill shift leader posts. I will take advice from the director of midwifery in the post at the end of this week to see how we shape the final skill mix. She is the best person to advise me.

With regard to consultant staff, we stand at four consultants. The locum deployed over the past few weeks will be maintained for the remainder of the year. With regard to the review being undertaken by me and the clinical management team in Portlaoise, it is under way and I hope to conclude it within the coming few weeks.

Two specific points were raised about whether there was a rationale for families not being informed of incidents or reports. From talking to the staff, no rationale was given. That is at variance to the policy on complaints or clinical incidents. No reason was cited but it is totally against the complaints procedure. In terms of retention of foreign bodies, there were two incidents relating to swabs, one of which directly involved a consultant and one directly involving an NCHD.

The last question referred to the overall audit of maternity services. That will be done within the framework of looking at forming groups but the exercise will be completed. It will look at maternity hospitals and small hospitals over the coming two months.