"Disappointing," was how Mr Jimmy Livingstone described the independent report into what happened on the morning of his granddaughter Bronagh's death.
Standing in a back office of Gilbride's grocery store in Emyvale to which the Department of Health had faxed the report, Mr Livingstone said it appeared to "be trying to make a scapegoat of the medical staff of Monaghan Hospital, which in our view is completely wrong".
On a number of occasions the report questions the actions of staff in the hospital in how they dealt with Ms Denise Livingstone, when she arrived in the early hours of the morning in an advanced stage of labour.
Having been told initially by the Minister for Health Mr Martin's office that the report would be with him by 4 p.m. yesterday, Mr Livingstone was eventually advised that it would be faxed to a local supermarket at 7 p.m. Some one hour and 40 minutes after arriving at the supermarket, Mr Livingstone began to read the 61-page fax comprising the report of the independent team and that of the investigation by the North Eastern Health Board. It took him almost an hour to read through it, after which he said there was "a lot there to digest".
"But after just glancing through it there, I have to say it is disappointing. I had hoped for recommendations that some sort of maternity services would be put in place in Monaghan Hospital. My daughter is the first of many tragedies. If something isn't done, the staff in the hospital will still not be able to examine and properly treat an emergency like that. They are talking about protocols, but the staff were not properly informed or trained in the protocols."
He said all the equipment necessary for the safe delivery of a baby was present in Monaghan Hospital. "There is equipment up in the wards, all the necessary equipment lying idle. There's a fully qualified obstetrician sitting at home with nothing to do. There are 16 qualified midwives - all going to waste."
Praising the actions of the staff of Monaghan Hospital, he said had they delivered baby Bronagh "and had anything gone wrong, they would have been held responsible. They didn't have the back up they needed."
Referring to a statement in the report that Monaghan Hospital was a "charged" atmosphere in which to work, he said: "I'd say it is very difficult to work there. Our hospital has been run into the ground. The people of Monaghan want Monaghan Hospital back."
The chronology of what happened to Denise from the moment she woke shortly after 3 a.m. at home in Emyvale with labour pains to the death of her daughter at 8.55 a.m. in Cavan Hospital, he said, "was very difficult to read".
Mr Peadar McMahon, spokesman for Monaghan Community Alliance, said nothing in the report was surprising.
"We know the systems in place are inadequate to deal with an emergency. It is obvious the protocols weren't sufficient, the proper staff weren't in place and that changes must be made immediately to ensure an emergency can be properly dealt with."
