External reviews are being conducted into the delivery of nine babies at Portiuncula University Hospital (PUH), Co Galway, following concerns in relation to the provision of maternity services.
In a statement issued on Monday evening, the Health Service Executive said an external management team was to oversee and manage maternity services there over coming months.
Six babies delivered in 2024 and one in 2025 had hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) with six referred for neonatal hypothermic treatment, known as neonatal cooling. In addition, two stillbirths occurred at the hospital in 2023 and the circumstances were also being reviewed externally, it said.
The team is being led by consultant obstetrician Dr Mark Skehan of University Hospital Limerick.
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Dr Pat Nash, regional clinical director HSE West and North West, apologised to those for whom this news would be worrying or upsetting. It is understood some 800 expectant mothers are on the unit’s books.
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“We are making these changes now to ensure the maternity service at Portiuncula is as safe as possible for mothers and their babies,” he said.
“This incidence of HIE, resulting in referral for neonatal cooling treatment, is significantly higher than that observed nationally or internationally for a similar time frame,” Dr Nash added.
HIE has many causes and is essentially the reduction in the supply of blood or oxygen to a baby’s brain before, during or after birth. Therapeutic hypothermia is considered the standard treatment for full-term infants with moderate to severe HIE.
Dr Cliona Murphy, clinical director, HSE National Women and Infants Health Programme, said services would continue to operate as normal. Women with appointments should attend as normal and those with understandable concerns should discuss them with their obstetrician or midwife, she added.
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A report on maternity services at PUH in 2018 identified multiple serious failures, including staffing issues; lack of training; and poor communication among staff, which contributed to the death of three babies. The report was commissioned in 2015 to examine delivery and neonatal care of 18 babies.
The findings of current reviews would be considered alongside previous reviews, Dr Murphy said. Between 2019 and 2023, a further eight reviews took place into cases of concern. A series of service-improvement plans and other measures were implemented at the unit following these reviews.
Former Galway TD Anne Rabbitte said she had got a briefing on the reviews on Monday. “I’m really, really disappointed we’re back here again, having the same conversation,” she said.
The safety of mothers and babies must the main priority, she added.
She also criticised the manner in which the reviews were communicated by the HSE “on the ground” to staff and to local public representatives.
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