Public pay with their lives when health services unfunded

“AOIFE had a horrible death and she suffered all night. People need to know that.”

These were the words of Carol Johnston as she stood outside the courtroom in Co Limerick where the four-day inquest into the death of her 16-year-old daughter had just finished.

She died despite being in hospital and staff being aware she was gravely ill.

Here’s a potted version of what happened: Nurse Katherine Skelly, the clinical nurse manager in charge of A&E at the University of Limerick Hospital on the night of Aoife’s attendance described the situation at the hospital as being like a “war zone”.

She recalled trolleys back-to-back lining either side of the corridor, blocking the entrance to toilets and cubicles.

All available floor space was taken up. There were 14 patients crowded into the resuscitation room, designed to accommodate seven.

She counted 67 “category-two” patients, like Aoife, who were seriously ill and ought to have been seen in 10 to 15 minutes. Her parents told a harrowing tale of trying to alert staff to their daughter’s deteriorating condition but it was to prove in vain.

Aoife had to wait for 12 hours before being properly examined and given antibiotics but by then it was too late. Sepsis had entered her system and she died two days later.

This tragic story of the death of this beautiful young girl with her whole life ahead of her proves beyond measure that patients die when systems are not fit for purpose.

And there’s a message here for us. We have plenty of evidence that things need a radical shake-up, that over-crowding can and does effect patient outcomes.

Just recently we heard the story of Zoe Carlin, 23, who was admitted to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry in March. Overcrowding there was so severe she said she spent more than a week in a locker room.

Last week I listened to a report on the BBC where it was confirmed Northern Ireland has the worst waiting lists in the UK.

The Department for Health’s own estimate is that it could take up to 10 years to tackle current waiting lists.

Public Health expert Prof Deirdre Heenan told the interviewer a major shakeup was needed asap. She said: “I think we need to be honest with the public, to say we’ve lost control of this.” If all this isn’t worrying enough for those who need to be seen by a medical professional, Health Minister Robin Swann said there is no way the pay needs of staff can be met in the current budget allocated to his department. Industrial action is now very much back on the agenda.

Speaking about this on the Sunday morning senior NIPSA official, Patrick Mulholland told the BBC’S Mark Carruthers the only way to get funding for pay would be to introduce cuts.

He wondered who would die or what child in urgent need of treatment would be allowed to fall through the net in order to provide those funds. The Assembly, he made clear, should not be going down this road.

The same programme was told by Sarah Christie from Macmillan that cancer treatment waiting times have now gone out from weeks to months and the harmful effects that was having both physically and mentally on patients was inestimable.

So, to put it bluntly, we need a budget that meets needs. We cannot afford one that’s a financial exercise in balancing the books.

And if the Westminster magic money tree has no bother gathering up funds to provide arms to Israel and Ukraine why can’t it be shaken a few more times to drop some badly needed cash for us?

We have been under-funded for years.

TRAGIC Aoife Johnston was 16