Report into death of Clare student Aoife Johnston may take weeks to be made public

It may take another number of weeks for a report into the death of 16-year-old Aoife Johnston to be made public according to HSE CEO, Bernard Gloster.

Mr Gloster appointed Mr Justice Frank Clarke to conduct a formal investigation into the death of Aoife Johnston, who died at University Hospital Limerick in December 2022 following a 12-hour wait in the emergency department (ED).

The teenager from Shannon had been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and later developed sepsis.

Terms of reference for the independent investigation were announced in January and it was mentioned that the investigation would take eight weeks.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland this Thursday, Mr Gloster said: “I asked Mr Justice Clarke to assist me with that. It’s a very complex matter and he has agreed and I am very grateful to him. I literally have not engaged with him around his timeline because I want to ensure his independence.

“I set a timeline at the term of reference to be about eight weeks. I expect that after eight weeks, which is coming up shortly, Mr Justice Clarke will say that he needs a little more time but I expect that to be only weeks, rather than months,” Mr Gloster added.

Mr Gloster said he is “very conscious” of being sensitive to Aoife’s family, whom he has met.

“I am very conscious for them, we are coming up to pre-inquest stage and so on so I am very sensitive to that but Mr Justice Clarke will report to me and when I have his report, I’ll consider that appropriately.”

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Mr Gloster was also asked if the death of another 16-year-old girl who had a long wait in the ED at UHL would be the subject to an external inquiry.

“I did issue a statement to say that it is important that we do not attribute, just because of age, the same circumstances to people when they die in hospital or when they’re critically ill,” Mr Gloster said.

“That case has been the subject of a preliminary assessment within the hospital. The girl’s family will be engaged with around that preliminary assessment and subject to that plus the post-mortem in the inquest, my regional executive officer there will make as to what level of further review is required… But if it’s required, there will be no difficulty with that,” Mr Gloster added.