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clareecho.ie
Dec 14 2023
FESTIVE CHEER HSE apologise
over death of Clare teenager Review finds serious failings in Aoife Johnston case by Páraic McMahon
paraic@clareecho.ie
l John McCabe and Seamus Mulligan deliver a Christmas meal to Patricia Dempsey as part of Photo by Joe Buckley the Shannon Garda station festive initiative
“SERIOUS FAILINGS” in the care given to a Shannon teenager in the days leading up to her death have been highlighted in an internal review. Aoife Johnston was sixteen years old when she died of bacterial meningitis at University Hospital Limerick on December 19th 2022. Her death occurred two days after she first presented at the hospital. Members of the Johnston family were provided last week with an internal review into the circumstances of her death.
An internal review into the death of the St Caimin’s Community School student was commissioned by Prof Brian Lenehan, Chief Clinical Director, UL Hospitals Group, and completed by an expert HSE team external to UL Hospitals Group under the HSE Incident Management Framework. This review found that Aoife waited 12 hours in UHL’s severely overcrowded emergency department and was not treated for sepsis until it was too late. She was not given the care she required despite her family desperately flagging her deteriorating condition. The review
found that delays in her treatment breached national guidelines on sepsis management. HSE CEO, Bernard Gloster has received the review and is aware that the UL Hospitals Group has offered an apology for the failings in care identified in the review. Gloster is willing to meet the family privately should they wish to do so.
Full story pg 14-15