Dr. Colm Henry:

It is important to place these actions in context. If we look at the ten-year strategy for maternity care, the great majority of care is provided either by normal pathways of midwife-provided care and then combined care with obstetricians. A relatively small proportion of women who have high risk need specialised care. The recommendations arising from the concerns of the oversight team that is in place and the report that came out is that we should identify women who we know are high risk and ensure they are in the safest possible environment.

That is not the only action. A whole range of actions is coming out of these reports that involve supporting the staff, education and training, what we call situation awareness and team communication, none of which is to point out that there are any deficits per se. It is an appropriate proportionate response to the recommendations that came out from adverse events and the independent investigation. They entail supporting the staff through what we call quality improvement programmes. We have identified a recommendation on communication about the escalation of issues and what we need to do working with the team to ensure there is more appropriate and timely communication in such instances. That external team, led by an external consultant, is engaged with that work as well, since they were put there in January 2025.

The actions with regard to higher risk women is but one part of a whole suite of actions that are taking place, working with the staff in Portiuncula on site to ensure that low-risk and medium-risk pregnancies can continue there supported and safe and giving confidence to mothers in the region that the hospital remains a safe place to deliver a child.