‘Our failure led to her death and we failed them as a family’, says HSE CEO

A DEATH TRAP, a warzone, chaotic - these were just some of the words used at the inquest to describe the emergency department (ED) in University Hospital Limerick (UHL) the weekend Aoife Johnston died.

The 16-year-old died from meningitis B on December 19, 2022 - just two days after she first presented at the ED.

Despite her parents “begging for help” she wasn’t seen by a doctor until 6am the day after she presented to the hospital.

The CEO of the HSE, Limerick man Bernard Gloster said UHL has his support and his personal attention.

In an interview with RTE Radio 1, he said; “We are sorry we failed Aoife. Our failure led to her death and we failed them as a family.”

While many of the medical witnesses told the Limerick Coroner’s Court that things had not changed in UHL, Mr Gloster disagreed.

He pointed out that since Aoife died, the number of junior doctors in the ED has increased from 26 to 47, while the number of emergency medicine consultants has increased by five from 10 to 15.

When asked about reopening Ennis, St John’s or Nenagh emergency departments, he said that wasn’t feasible as they don’t have critical care with access to emergency surgery.

He said the only option is to increase the capacity in UHL.

Mr Gloster told Radio 1 that to reverse the decisions made about those three hospitals “would not be a safe decision.”

During the four-day inquest in Kilmallock, the court heard that two staff members - a junior doctor and a clinical nurse manager both left UHL after Aoife’s death.

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Limerick Coroner John McNamara delivered a verdict of death by medical misadventure and made four recommendations as to the future operations of UHL.

A number of medical professionals in senior positions told the court that they did not know about Aoife on the night she was admitted.

The court heard that Aoife should have been seen within 15 minutes, but she wasn’t.

She was given antibiotics, which could have saved her life, but she got them 15 hours and 15 minutes too late.