Failings highlighted during Aoife Johnston inquest are an indictment of the health service

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University-Hospital-Limerick News

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Tragic death of 16-year-old by medical misadventure comes amid other concerning cases and warnings from campaigners

Consistently found to have the highest daily number of patients on trolleys by the Irish Nurses and Midwives’ Organisation’schronic overcrowding as well as significant nurse and bed shortages left the hospital’s ED trying to treat twice as many patients as it was designed to cope with. A year later, a January 2023 report foundConcerns for years in Department of Justice over immigrant investor programmeAoife presented to the hospital at 5.40pm on December 17th, 2022. She was not triaged until 7.

But the actions that led to Aoife Johnston’s delayed treatment, and ultimately her death, all come down to the issues highlighted again and again: overcrowding and understaffing., and said “every inch of the floor space” was taken up by patients on trolleys, describing it as “a war zone. It was an impossible situation”.

Aoife Johnston’s death was one of a number at the hospital which have caused concern in recent years. In 2019, 21-year-old Eve Cleary, due to be completed by the end of May, on the circumstances surrounding Johnston’s death. It will address the contributory factors within UHL that led to the tragedy. But her inquest, which returned a verdict of medical misadventure, also sheds valuable insight into the reality for patients and staff at UHL.

But according to the Government, steps have been taken to improve the provision of care in the hospital. This week, Taoiseach Simon Harris told the Dáil there had been– or 1,100 additional staff appointed – since 2019. There had also been a 44 per cent increase in the hospital’s budget, he said.

 

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