‘We failed Aoife & it led to her death’
HSE BOSS ADMITS TO ERRORS IN EMERGENCY WARD
HSE boss Bernard Gloster has admitted the health service “failed” Aoife Johnston and that failure “led to her death”.
At her inquest last week, it emerged that the tragic teen died from meningitis while waiting to see a doctor at University Hospital Limerick and that antibiotics might have saved her if given earlier.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week programme, the HSE chief executive apologised on behalf of the health service to the 16-year-old’s family.
He said: “There is only one thing that we can say to them, and that is that we apologise, we are sorry.
“We failed Aoife, our failure led to her death. We failed them as a family.”
Last Friday, a verdict of medical misadventure was returned at the inquest into the death of Aoife.
The teenager, from Shannon in Co
GARDAI were last night investigating the death of a quad driver in his 20s following a collision with a tractor.
It came on a main road at Derrybrien south, around 16km east of Gort in Galway.
Emergency services were notified at around 1.15pm and
Clare, died from meningitis on December 19, 2022.
The 16-year-old had presented at the Emergency Department at UHL two days earlier with suspected sepsis, but faced a lengthy wait for treatment.
When questioned about accountability, Mr Gloster said that “remains very much alive for me”.
Trap
He added that he did not want to preempt or determine such matters until he studied transcripts from the inquest into Aoife’s death and read the report by retired Chief Justice Frank Clarke.
He said there were no findings against any individuals but said the question of accountability would be addressed “by me alone and without fear or favour”. rushed to the scene.
The tractor driver was uninjured and attempted to help the other man while waiting for paramedics to arrive.
The road where the incident occurred was closed yesterday to allow a technical examination to take place.
At the inquest, Dr Jim Gray described conditions at UHL’s emergency department at the time as “a death trap”.
But Mr Gloster said that even though there was still overcrowding the emergency department there it was “much more safe” now.
He added: “I’m satisfied that if people need emergency care they should and could attend that department today.
“But I do understand the concern that people have.
“Our job is to work to build people’s confidence and safety assurance in the hospital.”
He said that since Aoife’s death, a “substantial” number of the “very serious safety indicators that were obvious then” have been addressed.
He said there was “no question” that they were not recognising bed capacity as a challenge, but that it comes with the need “for multiple changes at multiple levels”.
“Otherwise all the capacity in the world would make no difference,” he said.
Gardai in Galway are now appealing for anyone with information to contact them and anyone with camera footage from the vicinity of Gort, Loughrea and Derrybrien yesterday afternoon is asked to make it available to them.