Hospital child deaths to get independent inquiry

The government has announced it is to launch a full independent inquiry into the deaths of three children at a local hospital.

The decision by the Health Minister Angela Smith to launch a probe into the deaths of Lucy Crawford, Raychel Ferguson and Adam Strain, follows a recent UTV programme, 'When Hospitals Kill', which claimed the children died needlessly from a condition known as hyponatraemia, a shortage of sodium in the body - and that one of the deaths was covered up.

The Minister said: "I regard it as very important that the general public should have confidence in the health service and in the standards of performance of all who work in it. This television programme has raised a number of serious issues and allegations which need to be investigated.

"The death of a child is tragic and is something which my Department takes very seriously. I have spoken to the families who were involved in the programme and have told them that there will be a fully independent investigation.”

DUP Health Spokesperson, Iris Robinson, gave a guarded welcome to the inquiry saying the“tragic and needless deaths of several children as the result of inappropriate administration of intravenous fluids raised questions not only regarding medical practice, but more concerningly about accountability within management structures”.

Barrister John O'Hara QC, who took charge of the inquiry into the retention of human organs in Northern Ireland hospitals three years ago, will head the new investigation.

(MB/GMCG)