Thursday 6 February 2025
Statement from the Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill following visit to Portiuncula University Hospital
The Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD today visited Ballinasloe to meet some of the families included in the current review of cases.
She also visited Portiuncula University Hospital (PUH). This follows the appointment of an external management team to oversee maternity services at the hospital while reviews are conducted into the nature of care provided during the delivery of nine babies.
Minister Carroll MacNeill said:
“Today was a day for listening. I am very appreciative for the opportunity today to meet with and listen to some of the nine families whose babies’ care at PUH are the subject of ongoing reviews. These are not ‘events’, or ‘incidents’, these are women with babies who died, and women and babies who had unexpected and severe outcomes.
“I have listened to their mothers and I want to thank each one of them for taking the time to meet with me, and for their courage and selflessness in sharing their experiences, which is reflective of what other women have stated countless times before. We heard it repeatedly before in the Boylan report in 2017, and in the Report of the Interdepartmental Working Group on the Rising Cost of Health-Related Claims of 2024 – that all of these mothers said that they weren’t listened to and they just didn’t want what happened to them to happen to someone else. I am awestruck by their altruism at a time of such personal difficulty in their lives.
“I cannot overstate this: in maternity, the voice of the mother highlighting concerns about herself or her baby is paramount. Let me be abundantly clear – that starts now. No excuses.
“I am also highly sensitive to the fact that every visit, every media report – while important for transparency – again highlights a devastating time in their lives.
“During my visit today I also spent time with some of the staff in the maternity unit and heard from them directly. I also met with the hospital’s Executive Management and the external management team who are currently overseeing maternity services at the hospital to assess their early feedback. I plan to meet with this team again in another two weeks.
“It is most important that all appropriate steps are taken to prioritise patient safety and neonatal care at Portiuncula, and in every maternity hospital in Ireland. I will continue to engage with the teams at Portiuncula while we await the completion of the reviews.”