The chairperson of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children has called for a report on the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise to be published ‘as soon as possible'.

An investigation into the hospital was established over a year ago following the deaths of five babies there between 2006 and 2012. A six-person team was established by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), which received information from over 80 families.

A draft report based on this investigation was recently completed. It is understood to be extremely critical of the hospital and senior management there.

However, publication of the report has been delayed because of legal issues between the HSE and HIQA, with the former threatening to take legal action to prevent the publication of the report.

It insisted that the draft report contains ‘factual inaccuracies', and lacks balance and context. Furthermore, certain individuals named in the report were not given ‘the relevant information or documentation in order to allow them to appropriately respond to these findings'.

The HSE pointed out that it sent five letters to HIQA ‘in order seek further information and supporting documentation to allow it (the HSE) and its staff members to respond appropriately to inaccuracies, a lack of context and certain findings in parts of HIQA's Report into the safety, quality and standards of services provided by the HSE to patients in the Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise'.

It insisted that media reports describing its engagement with HIQA as ‘menacing' were incorrect and to this end, it published the five letters it sent to HIQA ‘in order to allow members of the media and the public to reach their own conclusion'.

It said when HIQA did not accede to its request, it ‘gave consideration to seeking court intervention in order to ensure that a more balanced and fair final report would ensue'.

"The HSE then wrote to the Department of Health on March 13 seeking it to intervene in the matter. Following a meeting last week, HIQA and the HSE are now working in accordance with an agreed process to receive this necessary information and documentation and to bring finality to the HSE's input into the process of finalising the report," the HSE added.

Commenting on the situation, Fine Gael TD and chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, Jerry Buttimer, insisted that the report should be published as soon as possible.

"In the interests of patients and families, this independent report must be published as soon as possible, all other considerations should be secondary and must not block or delay its publication. This is about patients and patient safety and it cannot be about anything else," he insisted.

He said that the threat of legal action by a State body to prevent the publication of a report commissioned by a Government minister ‘was a step too far'.

"It is welcome that a process for dealing with the report has been agreed between HIQA and the HSE. Now what is required is constructive efforts to get the report published as soon as possible," Deputy Buttimer added.