Monitors updated in 2011 after complaints

FOETAL monitors which were the subject of a safety warning in 2009 were updated across the country by 2011, it was last night confirmed.

The HSE said a risk assessment team had been established to identify any issues surrounding the use of Philips’ Avalon Foetal Monitors between 2009 and now. The assessment was prompted after the HSE said it received queries regarding a product recall that had been issued by Philips in 2009.

The recall came after complaints the machine was conflating the mother’s heart beat and that of the foetus. Philips, the manufacturers of the monitors, issued a warning to hospitals that if they did not put corrective action in place and train staff how to use the monitors, it could result in injury or death.

According to an RTÉ report, one of 11 Irish hospitals which was issued with the warning was Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise, which was the centre of a probe involving the deaths of five babies.

There were issues with the interpretation of foetal traces in all five of these cases.

A six-member team has now been formed to establish if correct action was taken following the warning, and if any concerns currently exist.