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IHRD-69

Executive Director Responsibilities

Hyponatraemia Inquiry · Report of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths · Issued 31 January 2018 · Addressed to: HSC Trusts

Government responseDepartment of Health NI: Accepted (Mar 2021)

DeliveryDepartment of Health NI says partially delivered (Jun 2026)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

Trusts should appoint and train Executive Directors with specific responsibility for: (i) Issues of Candour. (ii) Child Healthcare. (iii) Learning from SAI related patient deaths.

Hyponatraemia Inquiry, Report of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths · 31 Jan 2018 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

In June 2026, the Minister of Health, Mike Nesbitt, stated that the Department of Health assessed recommendation 69(iii), on appointing and training Executive Directors with responsibility for learning from serious adverse incident patient deaths, as actioned under Phase 1 of the implementation programme (Mike Nesbitt, Jun 2026). The Minister noted that this position had been outlined in a departmental update published in June 2023 for recommendations referencing serious adverse incidents (Mike Nesbitt, Jun 2026).

Sources

Mike Nesbitt, Jun 2026

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record above reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.

Report-level response context

The Minister of Health accepted all 96 recommendations together, in one sentence of a written statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 25 March 2021. That sentence is not a response to any one recommendation alone, and the Department of Health published no response to each recommendation. The Department's statements of 31 January, 2 February and 30 March 2018 contain no acceptance of the recommendations.

Government response

●Department of Health NI · Accepted · 25 Mar 2021

Words of: Mr Swann, Minister of Health, written ministerial statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly, 25 March 2021

My Department accepts the recommendations of the O'Hara Report in their entirety.

Extract from: Department of Health - Inquiry into Hyponatraemia Related Deaths (IHRD) Implementation Programme Update

Delivery

●Department of Health NI says partially delivered · 20 Jun 2026

Five recommendations which reference Serious Adverse Incidents (SAIs) were assessed by the Department as actioned under Phase 1 of the Hyponatraemia Related Deaths (IHRD) implementation programme. This position was outlined in an update published by the Department in June 2023. The five recommendations are set out in Table 1 below. Table 1 No Recommendation 40 Learning and trends identified in SAI investigations should inform programmes of clinical audit. 62 Clinicians caring for children should be trained specifically in communication with parents following an adverse clinical incident, which training should include communication with grieving parents after an SAI death. 65 Training in SAI investigation methods and procedures should be provided to those employed to investigate. 69(iii) Trusts should appoint and train Executive Directors with specific responsibility for: Learning from SAI related patient deaths.

From: AQW 45206/22-27 (Northern Ireland Assembly written question: IHRD recommendations that reference Serious Adverse Incidents), Mike Nesbitt, Minister of Health (Northern Ireland)

Site note: The answer's Table 1 lists part (iii) of this recommendation only (Executive Directors with responsibility for learning from SAI related patient deaths). It says nothing about parts (i) and (ii), so the row is marked partially delivered.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.