HSE chief: 'Our failure' led to Aoife Johnston's death
Raleigh Picture: Aoife Johnston David
University Hospital Limerick (UHL) is safer now than on the night Aoife Johnston died there, the chief executive of the HSE has claimed.
Ms Johnston, 16, died in December 2022 in UHL after suffering from meningitis-related sepsis and was left for more than 16 hours without antibiotics.
An inquest into her death this week returned a verdict of medical misadventure.
Bernard Gloster again apologised to Ms Johnston's family, saying the health service "failed" her.
"Our failure led to her death and we failed them as a family", he said.
He said the "question of accountability" will be addressed by himself "without fear or favour". However, it would be reliant on files from the inquest and a report into Ms Johnston's death by former chief justice of the Supreme Court Frank Clarke.
During the inquest, UHL emergency medicine consultant Dr James Gray described the emergency department on the weekend Ms Johnston died as a "death trap" and said it is still one today.
When asked about this on RTÉ Radio One, Mr Gloster said he would not question evidence given about events on the night and said that he fully accepted the findings of the coroner.
However, he took issue with the statement about UHL's emergency department being a "death trap" today.
Mr Gloster said the department is "much more safe now" despite the fact that there is still overcrowding.
He said the number of junior doctors in the department since Aoife died has gone from 26 to 47 while the number of emergency consultants has gone from 10 to 15. He said nurse staffing levels have also increased.
Concern over the department has been raised in the area with local GP Dr Yvonne Williams saying "it is only a matter of time before there is another tragedy".
She suggested patients would rather travel to a hospital in Dublin or Cork to avoid going to UHL.
Mr Gloster said he is "satisfied" that if people need emergency care they "should and could" attend UHL.
It was put to the HSE chief that people are "living in fear" of being sent to UHL, which he said indicates "the scale of the challenge" that is facing the health community in the midwest.
Everyone working in UHL, and the hospital group, has a role to play in rebuilding the public confidence, Mr Gloster said, and they have to be honest with people about the pressures that are there.
"Since Aoife's death alone, the very significant safety indicators that were obvious then, a substantial amount of those have been addressed in a way that does make the department more safe."
Regarding minor injury clinics in the area, Mr Gloster said that if the evidence and staffing capability to extend opening hours in Ennis, Nenagh and St John's was there, it would be considered.
However, he said if you staff one option, you have to consider what other option you cannot staff.