Baby deaths probe will get answers, vows Poots
Health Minister Edwin Poots speaks at a press conference in Stormont yesterday regarding the pseudomonas bug. picture Mark Marlow
HEALTH trusts may not have acted quickly enough to prevent hospital outbreaks of a deadly infection that killed four babies in Northern Ireland, the Stormont health minister has said.
Announcing an independent investigation into the pseudomonas bacteria emergencies in three neonatal units, Edwin Poots told the Assembly that the actions of trust officials needed to be rigorously examined.
“To be perfectly honest, Mr Speaker, at this stage I am not convinced the trusts responded quickly enough and that is why I am going down the route that I am going,” he said.
“And that’s why I will have an independent investigation, and it will be an independent investigation, and we will get the answers.
“Irrespective of how we get them, we will get the answers and we will make them public.”
Mr Poots has asked the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) to conduct the investigation, which will also examine the response of his own department.
But he stopped short of ordering a full public inquiry into the outbreaks, insisting such a probe could take years to complete.
“I cannot afford to wait years for answers,” he said.
Separate outbreaks claimed the lives of one newborn at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry in December and three at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Belfast last month.
Traces of the infection were also detected in the neonatal unit at the Ulster Hospital on the outskirts of Belfast at the weekend, though no infants contracted it.
The parents of one of the four babies that died from pseudomonas had called for a public inquiry.
Gavin Burke and Caoimhe Campbell’s 10-day-old son, Caolan, died in the neonatal unit in Derry last month. Ms Campbell said last week: “He would still be here only for that infection.
“We want a public inquiry into this because it’ll get at the truth.”
Taps and water systems in the three units have been identified as the source of the outbreaks and health chiefs have faced tough questions on whether enough was done to warn other hospitals in the wake of the Altnagelvin outbreak.
Mr Poots also announced yesterday that taps in all neonatal units in the region would be replaced.
Northern Ireland’s chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, wrote to trusts in the wake of the Altnagelvin incident reminding them of the importance of infection control measures – however the letter did not mention the fact a baby had died.
The Belfast trust has said it fully complied with the guidance that was issued. While Mr Poots has asked the trusts to examine their own response to the Londonderry outbreak, he said the independent probe by the RQIA was also needed.
“We have a responsibility to learn from this tragedy and to share that learning across the UK and Republic of Ireland,” he said.
“We owe it to the parents and we owe it to the memory of the babies that died.
“I have given this undertaking to the parents. I am absolutely determined to inquire into all of the circumstances of this tragedy.
“I resolve to investigate and understand what happened. I will not be deflected in achieving this, because it is only in doing so that we can prevent this happening again.”
Mr Poots said the RQIA team would be chaired by Cambridgeshire-based Professor Patricia Troop, former chief executive of the Health Protection Agency in England.
He said he wanted an interim report on his desk by the end of March, so urgent actions could be taken, and the final report no more than eight weeks later.
The DUP minister explained that the investigation would comprise two parts: one examining the actions of the trusts and his department, and the other assessing the experiences of the families whose babies died.
He said the RQIA would also work with health chiefs to develop new audit tools to regulate infection prevention control standards within all neonatal units and other augmented care settings in Northern Ireland.
The minister confirmed there had been no new cases of infection in the last week.
But he added: “As I informed you last week, pseudomonas has been found in samples from taps.
“As a precautionary measure, we are changing every tap on every clinical hand washing basin in every neonatal unit in Northern Ireland.
“There is no single, simple ‘quick fix’ for this situation.
“While we need to move swiftly and decisively, we must be sure we do the right things.
“I am leaving no stone unturned in my quest to reduce the risk of pseudomonas infection in neonatal units.
“That is what parents and the public expect and I have directed that this continues to be our approach.”
Mr Poots told expectant mothers that the region’s hospitals were safe places to give birth.
Mr Poots said the experiences of Northern Ireland would help shape new guidelines on pseudomonas.
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Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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