Mr. Kilian McGrane:

On the issues raised about audits and data, at the moment we have good systems for data collection. We have the Irish maternity indicator system, IMIS, which consists of 37 collated metrics. It was annual. We have produced a half-yearly report and hope to have the 2017 report by April or May. That was developed first by our colleagues in the clinical care programme. We also have maternity patient safety statements published monthly. We have four sites live on the maternal new born clinical management system. Our data collection systems have got significantly better and are allowing for some comparison.

Dr. Boylan talked about audit. We very much support that. We are starting to be able to look at that. There is also the national perinatal epidemiological centre in University College Cork, UCC. It does good work in analysing a variety of different suites of metrics that come out of our maternity services. That data is much more research-based and comes out 18 to 24 months after the year in question. We are looking at capturing information that can affect decision-making closer to realtime. The IMIS system will allow us to do that.

The model of care has been covered. In respect of quality and safety, we are providing funding for each maternity network to appoint a manager. One group has led the way in the serious incident management forum. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has its forum set up. It has a group of specialists who look at maternity-related incidents. It allows for a more focused conversation. My colleague, Dr. McKenna, has been chairing that group for some time. He can talk to the specifics of it.