Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept that the imperative now is to implement the recommendations arising from the HIQA report into the situation at Portlaoise. They have been accepted by the Department of Health and the HSE and will have implications for other hospitals in terms of demonstrating that the standards of competence and service available in the 19 maternity units around the country are of the highest order.

The decision made by the Government to transfer the health Vote into the Department of Health, so that the Minister is responsible and accountable, gives a much greater opportunity to determine where moneys are spent to ensure the adequacy of staffing and resources. The grouping of hospitals is also much better than having individual hospital entities around the country competing, as they did for so many years, for their own set of services and having to make their case each year. The fact that difficult choices were not faced up to for very many years has led to a range of services that, in some cases, have proven not to be of the highest standard. When Professor O'Higgins proposed centres of excellence for cancer a great deal of anxiety was expressed and there were public marches on the proposal. However those people, particularly women and families, who have had the traumatic experience of having to go to a centre of excellence for cancer treatment have found that outcomes are much more specific and relevant and it has proven that the decision to put the patient at the centre of the strategy was right. It means a lot to women who have gone through the trauma of breast cancer to see the capacity in a centre of excellence for the highest level of expertise and treatment.

The Deputy also said nothing had happened in respect of Portlaoise. On Leaders' Questions yesterday I dealt with the measures put in place in Portlaoise in the past 12 months, such as the new management and the memorandum of understanding signed with the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital. Portlaoise is now part of the midlands strategy in terms of maternity services and is linked with the Coombe. An equality and patient safety position for maternity services has been filled, risk management has been strengthened, there are 16 additional midwives in place and a director of midwifery has been appointed. As I said yesterday, the recommendations of the recent HIQA report are all accepted. The training that was put in place had a full attendance from midwifery staff.

As I said, the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, is in Portlaoise today meeting the parents who have lost babies so tragically and also the hospital personnel. The bluntness of the HIQA report brings into stark focus the inadequacies of a system that has grown over the years and that must be adjusted so that people can feel comfortable and happy that our maternity units have the safest standards possible for expectant mothers to give birth to their babies.

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