The board of the Galway and Roscommon University Hospital Group are awaiting the publication of the HIQA report into the death of Savita Halappanavar at University Hospital Galway (UHG ) in October last year before a decision will be made as to what action, if any, will be taken against clinicians charged with her care.
At a meeting of the HSE West Regional Health Forum on Tuesday Mr Bill Maher, CEO of the board, in a written response to a question by Councillor Padraig Conneely said it would not be appropriate to comment further while the Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland are considering the HSE National Incident Management Team report into Ms Halappanavar’s death.
“When these process are complete, our board will consider all of the information available to it and will take all appropriate measures,” Mr Maher’s answer read.
Cllr Conneely, chairman of the forum, said what was detailed in the report was a “disturbing, alarming, damning indictment of the hospital”.
He said according to the report Ms Halappanavar’s care was mismanaged from the day she entered the hospital to the day she died.
Cllr Conneely said the responsibility for patients, as far as he was concerned, lay with the medics and not the nurses. “Is there a need to go further when we had eight days of an inquest,” he added, saying that the persons involved in her care were named during that process.
“It was outrageous care this lady was subjected to by highly paid professionals at the hospital,” Cllr Conneely said.
He told the HSE board members that their own internal clinical review and the inquest clearly stated the hospital mismanaged the treatment of the patient and he added it was “a damning indictment of the public hospital and consultants”.
Mr Tony Canavan, general manager of UHG, in a prepared statement, told the forum that UHG and the HSE immediately apologised to Mr Praveen Halappanavar and family “for the events related to his wife’s care that contributed to her tragic death”.
He added that the first board meeting of the Galway and Roscommon University Hospital Group after the publication of the report formally adopted a motion expressing an apology and sympathy to Mr Halappanavar.
“The very comprehensive report speaks for itself,” continued Mr Canavan, who admitted that it was clear from the report that there were failures in the standard of care provided at UHG.
However he once again reiterated that UHG took immediate action to ensure the implementation of the four interim recommendations provided by the external independent chairperson.
He concluded by asking members not to raise any questions or issues that would impinge on patient privacy or encroach on the work of the regulatory bodies or HIQA.
When asked again if there would be any action taken against any clinicians as a result of Ms Halappanavar’s death Mr Canavan said: “We have co-operated with the coroner, we have co-operated with the HSE, we have co-operated with HIQA and we will co-operate with the regulatory bodies involved.”
