Department of Health's top civil servant faces a grilling by MLAs over Hyponatraemia Inquiry

It comes after members of the committee were scathing of the response by the department in the three years since the hearing's chair Mr Justice O'Hara published his report.

The Hyponatraemia Inquiry examined the deaths of five children following hospital treatment and found four of them were preventable.

In the case of Claire Roberts, who was nine when she died from hyponatraemia as a result of fluid mismanagement, Mr Justice O'Hara said there had been a cover-up.

Representatives from the Department of Health appeared in front of the scrutiny committee on Thursday to brief MLAs on what action had been taken since the report was made public in January 2018.

They said none of the 96 recommendations made by the Hyponatraemia Inquiry had been put in place.

And they came under fire when they were unable to answer a series of questions, including what had been done to hold to account individuals criticised in the report.

They were also unable to respond to concerns raised by People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll "some elements" of the Department of Health were "trying to silence journalists when they raise questions around what's happened".

MLAs also hit out at the fact they received a statement from the Health Minister announcing a public consultation on 'duty of candour' legislation arising from the inquiry recommendations on Wednesday evening.

The DUP's Jonathan Buckley described the timing as "absolutely scandalous".

He added: "The more sceptical members among us would say that this is nothing more than a distraction from the evidence that we were due to hear today."

Mr Carroll said it was "shambolic and contemptible", and he also said the families of the children at the centre of the Hyponatraemia Inquiry were no longer engaging with the Department of Health as "they have no or little faith" in the process.

Sinn Fein's Caral Ni Chuilin described a report presented to the committee by the Department of Health as "the most unambitious, disappointing, defensive response to an inquiry that dealt with the untimely death of children that I've ever seen".

She added: "I know it's the first of its kind, but I think that, frankly, it's a disgrace."

During the evidence session the committee was also told respondents to a survey of 2,300 people found when something goes wrong in the health service they are met with "obfuscation, lack of communication, stonewalling and failure to be open and honest".

It also emerged the duty of candour public consultation will ask whether healthcare professionals and organisations should be criminally accountable, or whether they should be dealt with through regulatory and disciplinary procedures.