A MOTHER whose daughter died after waiting 17 hours on a trolley at the emergency department of University Hospital Limerick, has criticised a request by the Minister for Health for a review of emergency care capacity in the Limerick region, including to determine whether a second emergency department is needed.
Melanie Sheehan Cleary’s disbelief in Minister Stephen Donnelly’s request of the Health and Information Quality Authority (HIQA), comes in the wake of an apology by Bernard Gloster, chief executive of the Health Service Executive, to the family of another young woman, Aoife Johnston, who died at UHL after she was left waiting in the Limerick ED for over 13 hours for life-saving drugs that were given to her too late.
Aoife Johnston, (16), who died in 2022, and Ms Sheehan Cleary’s daughter Eve, (21), who died in 2019, both passed away amid patient overcrowding at UHL, which is consistently the most overcrowded ED nationally.
“I think the evidence is there that a second ED is well needed, the results of the HIQA review will not be out until August 2025, it’s a joke,” said Ms Sheehan Cleary, who has declared she is running as candidate on behalf of the Mid West Hospital Campaign group in the next general election.
Ms Sheehan Cleary repeated comments she made recently that the “Mid-West is the only region with a single ED to cater for just under 400,000 people” and is “unsafe”.
She said it was “unjustifiable” for anyone “to argue that this region should continue to have less emergency resources than we had twenty years ago in 2004”.
Speaking as far back as last April, following Aoife Johnston’s inquest, Minster Donnelly admitted that the closure of 24-hour Accident and Emergency departments in counties Clare, Limerick, north Tipperary, and reconfiguration of these services to the Limerick Regional Hospital, was carried out before the significant extra investment that was required for UHL was made.
Despite the Minister’s acknowledgement then, that the decision by the coalition government in 2009 to close the regional A&E units was “not properly done”, he has persisted with asking HIQA to investigate if more than one ED is needed in the region.
In one of many dark and sobering moments during Ms Johnston’s inquest, the UHL emergency medicine consultant Dr Jim Gray described as a “deathtrap” the hospital’s ED at the time Aoife was waiting for treatment.
Last week a report published by the HSE, written by the retired Chief Justice, Frank Clarke, into Aoife’s death, found that “a risk of reoccurrence will inevitably be present” at UHL because of continued overcrowding.
Aoife, who should have been given life-saving medicine within 10 minutes of arriving at UHL, did not receive it until 13.5 hours later, when it was too late for the 16-year-old girl from Shannon, Co Clare.
Frank Clarke’s report concluded that Aoife’s death “was almost certainly avoidable”.
HSE boss Bernard Gloster said: “We failed Aoife and our failure has resulted in the most catastrophic consequences for her and her family.”
