The long-awaited report of the HSE inquiry into the death of Savita Halappanavar is expected to be published within the next 10 days.

The HSE probe was set up in November following the death of Ms Halappanavar at University Hospital Galway on October 28.

Savita died of septicaemia at the hospital last October 28, after being admitted at 17 weeks into her pregnancy and having been found to be miscarrying.

Savita and her husband Praveen asked repeatedly for a termination but this was refused on the basis that the foetal heartbeat was still present.

After public concern at the initial composition of the inquiry team, the HSE was forced to replace doctors from University Hospital Galway on the team with new members.

An initial draft of the report was leaked to the media in February, and this indicated serious deficits in Ms Halappanavar's care while in hospital.

The final report is expected to issue a number of recommendations for major improvements in maternity care, especially in cases there a patient is rapidly deteriorating.

In April, an eight-day coroner's inquest into Savita's death arrived at a verdict of death by medical misadventure.

After the inquest, Mr Halappanavar's solicitor Gerard O'Donnell met with the chair and vice-chair of the HSE inquiry team and the meeting was described as very productive.

Mr Halappanavar's representatives suggested a number of changes to the final version of the HSE report, and these amendments are likely to be incorporated into the final version when it is published.

The jury made nine recommendations including a call for more clarity on interventions to save a mother's life.

The HSE inquiry team is headed up by UK obstetrician Prof Sabaratnam Arulkumaran.

It is now expected that the HSE report will be published either late next week or early the following week.

Meanwhile, an obstetrics expert has said the issue of under-reporting of maternal deaths in Ireland is unlikely to be one that can be easily addressed.

Prof Richard Greene was commenting afer irishhealth.com revealed that the Central Statistics Office recorded only one maternal death last year, when at least five more were known to have occurred nationally.

The only death recorded by the CSO is believed to have been that of Ms Halappanavar.

The CSO stats use narrow criteria for recording maternal deaths, based on official registration through death certs.

Dr Greene said the best way to record maternal death statistics has been identified in the way the new Maternal Death Enquiry (MDE Ireland) system records deaths. Dr Greene has been involved in setting up this system.

MDE Ireland uses much wider criteria for recording these deaths, similar to those used in the UK, which are regarded as the 'gold standard' for measuring maternal mortality.

Only one in six maternal deaths recorded