HEALTH MINISTER JENNIFER Carroll MacNeill has shared her family experience of going through the State Claims process.

Speaking at the Oireachtas Health Committee, where the issue of medical negligence was being discussed, she said:

“It is important that I declare an interest in this to the chair. I have a child who had a neonatal brain injury and who goes through the State Claims process.

“So I am not just a minister for health but a parent in that situation. It is very important I disclose that, although it is quite private. I have personal understanding of this particular process and the interim steps and the way it is managed.”

Fianna Fáil TD Martin Daly, who is also a GP, asked the minister yesterday when she expects reforms on litigation, which were recommended by an expert group chaired by Dr Rhona Mahony, former Master of the National Maternity Hospital. 

“I recognise the work of Prof Rhona Mahony,” Carroll MacNeill said.

“In relation to the report, I recognise it but I also recognise it was chaired by a master of a maternity hospital where I repeatedly see events being presented to courts, including my own event,” the minister added.

“I have questions and I had questions at the time. I don’t believe it is a panacea necessarily,” she said, stating there is a need for “real accountability”.

“We don’t have a culture yet of real acknowledgement of wrongdoing and anticipating mental health implications,” said the minister.

The minister said she wanted to see “a very different attitude to openness, accountability, investigation and responsiveness and proactivity in wrapping arms around women and babies who had had very bad outcomes”.

Earlier this year, a review by the State Claims Agency revealed a number of failings in Ireland’s maternity services, with the report revealing tragic consequences, including five deaths, life-altering injuries to 80 babies and an estimated €320 million cost to the State in compensation.

The programme for government has committed to an annual review of neonatal brain injuries between the State Claims Agency and maternity hospitals to determine and seek to reduce the incidences.

The Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has said the rising costs of medical negligence is one of the biggest challenges for the health service today, with discussions ongoing about how to overhaul the medical negligence system to benefit both the HSE and patients, in terms of costs and time. 

The Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 was signed into law in May 2023 also legislates for open disclosure, ensuring that patients, their families, or both, receive truthful and timely information in any healthcare setting when a notifiable incident happens.