Director of nursing at UHL wasn't aware of Aoife Johnston on night she presented
Teenager died from sepsis on December 19, 2022
The assistant director of nursing, Patricia Donovan, who was on duty at University Hospital Limerick on December 17, 2022, says she was "not involved in the clinical care of Aoife Johnston".
Ms Donovan told the inquest into the teenager's death: “She was not a patient brought to my attention on December 17,” adding that she became aware of Aoife's deterioration and admission to ICU on December 18.
She visited the emergency department (ED) five or six times on the night of December 17, and during those visits, never heard about Aoife.
Ms Donovan highlighted the staff deficits on the night and also multiple outbreaks of flu, RSV and Covid.
She told the court that at that time nurse deficits were common, but that the situation has improved.
She said she had been contacted by nurse Katherine Skelly, who told the court in her statement that she never worked in a casualty department after that weekend.
Ms Skelly was concerned about the number of patients in the ED and the number of patients still waiting to be assessed.
Ms Donovan told the court that calling consultants would “not be the norm.”
A consultant who was phoned on the night that Aoife Johnston presented to University Hospital Limerick (UHL) would only come in for a "major emergency and not for volume".
A paediatric consultant who was also phoned, declined to come in, but then later came in for two hours.
When asked about this, Ms Donovan said she was “disappointed, but not surprised".
Ms Donovan accepted that overcrowding is “still a major problem” at the hospital.
She also agreed with counsel for the Johnston family, Damien Tansey, that the flow of patients is adversely affected by overcrowding.
When she had finished her statement, she became emotional and told the court that Aoife's death has “impacted hugely” on everyone who worked that weekend and that she doesn't understand the family's pain and hopes she never has to.
Dr Fasih Khan who was working as an oncall consultant spoke of how he saw Aoife at 9am on December 18 and she “deteriorated rapidly”.