Almost a year after an independent report was ordered into the death of a two-year-old Limerick girl within hours of her heart operation being postponed by a Dublin hospital, there is still no sign of the report.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, who ordered the report last July, told the Dáil this week "the work of the review panel is ongoing and I am not in a position to say, at this stage, when the report will become available".
Róisín Ruddle was due to have heart surgery to correct a congenital heart condition at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, on June 30th last year. She had travelled to the hospital for the operation and it was then cancelled at short notice. The hospital attributed the cancellation to a shortage of intensive care nurses. It sent the child back to her home at Kilmacow, near Adare, and said the operation would be rescheduled. However, she died early the next morning, July 1st.
Mr Martin immediately ordered a report from the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA), which funds the hospital. After receiving that report, the parents of Róisín Ruddle, Mr Gerard Ruddle and Ms Helen Quain-Ruddle, said it left many questions unanswered.
It did not address the issue of whether or not the child should have been sent home or the effect on their child of having to travel back to Limerick. It simply set out the reason for her surgery being cancelled. The Ruddle family called for an independent inquiry. Their request was acceded to by Mr Martin who announced the setting up of an independent inquiry in mid-July.
The inquiry is being conducted by a panel of three experts, including a paediatric cardiologist from Guys & Thomas's Hospital in London, Dr Shakeel A. Qureshi. The other members are management consultant Mr David Hanly, one of the authors of the Hanly report on hospital reorganisation, and Ms Kay O'Sullivan, the director of nursing at Cork University Hospital. When the inquiry panel was announced the Department of Health said it was unlikely their report would be available until September 2003. However, eight months later it has still not been finalised.
The Irish Times understands that the panel initially found it difficult to find dates on which they were all available to meet and that this has delayed the independent investigation. However, several staff at Crumlin hospital have now been interviewed by the panel.
Mr Martin told the Dáil that once complete the report would be published. He said the inquiry would consider the report of the ERHA into the child's tragic death and make any other inquiries necessary.