A Northern Ireland Office minister today agreed to review all papers relating to the death of a woman in a Belfast hospital after what should have been a routine abdominal procedure.
Stephen Murtagh, whose wife Janine died after her bowel ruptured during surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital in the city, revealed after talks in Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, with NIO Health Minister Shaun Woodward that the government had agreed to look again at the case.
Mr Murtagh has raised concerns about the failure of staff to notice after surgery that the bowel had been ruptured and the delay that occurred in trying to get Mrs Murtagh into an emergency operation theatre.
"We went into detail about the investigation of Janine's death and our concerns about them," her husband said.
"We discussed in particular the issue of the theatres which has been an ongoing saga in the last two years. We have concerns about the availability of theatre in the Royal for the two days that Janine was in the hospital.
"We certainly gave him enough to think about and to be fair to him the minister will take some time to look at it before he comes back to us."
Mr Murtagh confirmed Mr Woodward had agreed to come back to the family in September to discuss the case after reviewing all the papers.
In February, a report into Mrs Murtagh's death made 11 recommendations and identified areas of concern.
When it was discovered that Mrs Murtagh's bowel had ruptured, a decision was taken by doctors at around 9pm that she should have an emergency operation.
However it wasn't until 1am that she was able to get to an emergency theatre. At the inquest into her death, the coroner said the delay had played a part in her death.