The independent health safety body HIQA says it has received an official response today from Galway University Hospital following its request made last week for assurances about the safety of maternity services there.

HIQA sought information from the hospital and the HSE on maternity care safety following news last week of the death of Savita Halappanavar.

The safety body has statutory powers which would allow it to initiate its own independent inquiry into Ms Halappanavar's death and into maternity care at GUH if it is not satisfied with the safety information it gets from the hospital and the HSE.

A HIQA spokesman told irishhealth.com it was also awaiting a response from the HSE to the request it had made for information about safety standards.

It said it would consider both responses and then make its views known.

HIQA, if it is not satisfied with safety assurances given by the hospital and the HSE, has powers under section 9 of the 2007 Health Act to initiate an inquiry to investigate the matter further. Such an inquiry could deal with the death of Ms Halappanavar, the circumstances surrounding it, and maternity care safety issues in general at the hospital.

Under the same section of the 2007 Act, the Health Minister can formally request HIQA to initiate an inquiry.

The Minister, Dr James Reilly, yesterday indicated he felt a public inquiry was not the best way forward. Today, the Minister indicated the HSE inquiry would go ahead, despite Ms Halappanavar's husband's refusal to cooperate with it.

The Minister said he wanted the inquiry to deliver an interim report before Christmas.

A HIQA inquiry would be completely independent, and healthcare staff would be obliged to cooperate with it, but it would be privately undertaken until it published its report.

Last summer, HIQA launched a statutory inquiry into the safety of emergency department services at Dublin's Tallaght Hospital, following correspondence from the hospital which it said did not assure it about the safety of services there.

The safety body has the power to set up statutory inquiries into health safety matters, and for this purpose can appoint independent inquiry teams comprising experts from Ireland and abroad, in addition to HIQA officials.

These inquiries usually take a number of months to complete, but are completely independent of the HSE and the hospitals involved.

HIQA can also undertake shorter, more focused independent inquiries into particular issues, as it did last year in the Maedhbh McGivern transplant surgery transportation controversy.

With doubts now being expressed about the credibility of the HSE's own attempts to establish an inquiry, the pressure may grow for HIQA to step in as an alternative means of examining the Savita Halappanavar case and any issues surrounding it.

The HSE's moves to set up an inquiry into the Halappanavar case have fallen into disarray. It has already been forced to remove three doctors from Galway University Hospital from the inquiry team, and Ms Halappanavar's husband has refused to cooperate with any inquiry organised by the HSE.

Praveen Halappanavar has refused to meet with the inquiry chairman, and the family is calling for an independent public inquiry.

However, the HSE at this stage is persisting with its attempts to try to get its proposed inquiry off the ground. It is seeking replacements for the doctors who stepped down from the inquiry team.

The credibility of this inquiry, however, would be contingent on the HSE getting cooperation from the Halappanavar family, and so far this has not been forthcoming.

The Irish Patients Association today called for the HSE inquiry to be stood down and has called for HIQA to be brought in to carry out an inquiry instead.