Mr. Bernard Gloster:

I thank the Deputy for that contribution. I will leave the clinical dimensions of it to Dr. Colm Henry, the chief clinical officer, who has been heavily involved in aspects of this matter. I will take up one point made by the Deputy, which is a very fair one to address. When somebody says the Walker report was fully implemented, I think the Deputy has clearly pointed to deficits between what the report said and what subsequent incidents recorded as having happened. The stark reality of it from the perspective of where I sit is that, first, the Walker report took several years to materialise. There does appear to have been some improvement in the rate and type of incidents occurring after the early implementation phase of that. There then does appear to be outside of the international norms, an unexplained deterioration again in 2023 and into 2024. In terms of the high-risk pregnancy decision, which is the core decision the Deputy is talking about, I can assure him that decision is made only on the basis of all of the clinical advice as to what is appropriate, applicable and safe. It certainly is not being made in any blame context. I do want to be fair to doctors and nurses working in Portiuncula hospital. The question of blame context has not arisen, only the question of what is the best possible intervention that can be made in Portiuncula and elsewhere to make it as safe as possible for the women attending there.

I will ask Dr. Henry to address the clinical dimensions of questions the Deputy has raised but to be clear, it would not be reconcilable for me for someone to say the Walker report was fully implemented. The simple reality, and he pointed out and we all know, is that there are deficits that occurred post Walker. That is very clear.