Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a very important point. I will give a detailed response. The Department of Health has advised that the HSE South/South West Hospital Group, Cork University Hospital and Cork University Maternity Hospital have apologised to the bereaved parents. They very much regret the incident. The Department is informed that open disclosure did occur with the parents in line with the HSE open disclosure policy of 2019, which we are all familiar with, and as part of ongoing engagement. In line with the HSE's incident management framework, the families were encouraged to participate in the review. The HSE informed the Department that initial contact was made with the 18 families over 11 and 12 May 2020 through telephone contact. All families were also informed that a meeting could be arranged through their contact - that is because they were all in contact with bereavement supports before this - and that they would also receive this offer by letter. This was followed up with a registered letter to all families on 21 May 2020.

The HSE advises that two families accepted the offer of a meeting and the meetings were arranged. Families were offered the full supports of the bereavement and pregnancy loss service and this was provided as they required. One family had requested that very regular contact to be maintained and this request has been met. Cork University Maternity Hospital took the lead role in the open disclosure and it has continued to support the parents with the bereavement and pregnancy loss team.

The Department is informed that all of the bereaved parents affected were offered the support of Cork University Maternity Hospital bereavement and pregnancy loss service and were provided with details of the bereavement midwives to access any additional supports. As the Deputy will be aware, since we all debated it at great length in the previous Dáil, the HSE open disclosure policy from 2019 defines disclosure as open, consistent, compassionate and timely as an approach to communicating with patients. It includes expressing regret for what happened and keeping the patients informed and providing reassurance.

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