A second external team has been asked by the North Eastern Health Board to examine recent complaints made by a number of women about their treatment in the obstetric unit of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.The complaints were made by 10 women both earlier this year and last year.
These are different women from the 10 whose wombs were found by the Medical Council Fitness to Practise Committee to have been unnecessarily removed by the retired Drogheda consultant obstetrician, Dr Michael Neary. Dr Neary's name has been erased from the medical register over the removal of these 10 patients' wombs.
The health board disclosed last month that it had commissioned an independent external review of the care of these latest 10 complainants. And in an updated statement yesterday, it said it received the report from the independent external reviewer on Monday last.
The board, it said, had now requested a report from its external risk advisers, HRRI, on the totality of cases which were reviewed.
"It is expected that this report will be available within the next two weeks," it added.
"In order to reassure clients and staff at the maternity unit the CEO requested the board's external risk advisers to undertake an independent assessment of the current measures in place. This is to ensure the service now provided at the unit conforms to the highest standard," it added.
The health board also pointed out that Dr Neary was placed on administrative leave in December 1998 and had not practised in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital since.
"It should be noted that a significant number of service and care and quality initiatives have been introduced in the maternity unit at the hospital since December 1998," it said.
Now, before a Caesarean hysterectomy was carried out, a second medical opinion must be sought to ensure the procedure was the most appropriate. In addition, clinical audits were performed to monitor practice.
The health board statement came following the official publication yesterday of the Medical Council's report on Dr Neary. It noted that between the years 1993 and 1998, when Caesarean hysterectomy is considered as a proportion of all Caesarean sections, the rate in the Coombe Women's Hospital was one per 600. Dr Neary's personal rate was one per 20, and the rate for the Drogheda obstetrics unit as a whole was one per 42.
Dr Neary told the inquiry that the culture in Drogheda was one of carrying out Caesarean hysterectomies and that he was not out of line with his colleagues. The report said: "The evidence would appear to show that allegedly another colleague carried out Caesarean hysterectomies at a similar rate.
"This colleague did not testify and the committee, as a matter of fairness, cannot and will not reach any conclusion on the practice of that colleague".
Asked yesterday if the Medical Council was now investigating Dr Neary's colleague or if it had received complaints about the colleague, the president of the Council, Prof Gerard Bury, said he could not say.
"I'm not in a position to give any details about the current activities of council in relation to disciplinary matters," he said.
However, he said the council's responsibility was to explore all information put at its disposal. The council did not wait for individuals to come forward to submit complaints. "Once information is brought to the attention of council the practice in the Medical Council is to act as the complainant itself in those situations," he said.