Breaking News: AIMSI s statement on Philomena Canning Case

Breaking News: AIMSI s statement on Philomena Canning Case.

Press release from the Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services: Minister Leo Varadkar’s statement re Philomena Canning: The public need to have confidence in HSE investigations

September 21st 2015
For immediate release September 21st 2015
 

Contact Krysia Lynch 0877543751
Email: Chair@aimsireland.com
www.aismireland.ie

The Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services Ireland (AIMSI) welcomes Leo Varadkar’s statement reported in the media yesterday, in which he stated his support for midwife Philomena Canning and his resounding endorsement of her safety record and practice  as a home birth midwife in Ireland.
Ms Canning has been the subject of an internal Systems Analysis enquiry by the HSE for over a year now. This enquiry persisted despite the HSE’s parallel enquiry into her practice by leading midwifery experts from within and outside Ireland which showed her practice to be without fault and exemplary and which led to the State Claims Agency restoring her clinical indemnity in February 2015.
AIMSI Chair Krysia Lynch said “It is vital that maternity services in Ireland are of the highest standard and it is essential that any failing on the part of maternity service providers be extensively investigated, however this case is a farce. The HSE s own expert witnesses have categorically stated that there is no case to answer and yet the HSE is persisting with a costly internal enquiry that is emptying the public purse of thousands and thousands of euros.”
“Meanwhile HSE Systems Analysis into the cases of baby deaths in Port Laoise have resulted in those responsible merely being reassigned to other jobs within the HSE. This in combination with the Philomena Canning case hardly inspires public confidence that the HSE is able to carry out unbiased internal enquiries. We urge Minister Varadkar to investigate how these events have come about.”
Lynch continued “In Philomena Canning’s case, whilst the HSE were busy telling the public that the investigation was in the interests of safety, they cynically abandoned the 29 women who had been in Philomena’s care when they unjustly revoked her  indemnity. Those 29 women were left to fend for themselves; literally abandoned without any maternity care. All these women were public patients of the HSE and some of them were 40 weeks pregnant.”
ENDS

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