AOIFE JOHNSTON’s family are to hold their first meeting with Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll McNeill (FG) today (Thursday).
Carol and James Johnston, Aoife’s parents are to meet the Health Minister and will also in a separate meeting sit down with HSE CEO, Bernard Gloster. The Shannon family are seeking a statutory inquiry into the teenager’s death at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) after she was left waiting thirteen hours for vital treatment for sepsis in an emergency department overrun with patients.
Her death in December 2022 has led to two inquiries and disciplinary proceedings against six senior staff over the circumstances of her final hours. Her family believe only a full statutory inquiry will provide them with answers.
Members of the Johnston family wrote to the Health Minister through their solicitor last month. They will separately meet the chief executive of HSE, Bernard Gloster, on the same day, the first time they have taken up his offer to sit down with the family.
The family have been pushing for a statutory inquiry as they believe previous inquiries have failed to provide accountability, and conflicts of evidence over measures that could have mitigated overcrowding on the night she died remain unresolved.
Speaking in UHL on Thursday, Minister Carroll McNeill said “What happened to Aoife was unforgiveable and it was completely wrong and avoidable and it’s really important that we say that really, really clearly. As to what happens next, I’m very aware that there are disciplinary processes happening within the HSE, it’s very important that we enable those disciplinary processes we don’t often see direct disciplinary process and I think that’s important but with every respect to your good self I’d like to meet them before speaking any further”.
The solicitor for the family, Damien Tansey, said that they will be urging the minister to hold a “meaningful” inquiry into Aoife’s death. “Inquiries to date have been lamentable in terms of accountability and identifying the problems that arose in the emergency department,” he said.
“We asked the Minister for a meeting to discuss a statutory inquiry. This meeting is in response to that request. We also wrote to Bernard Gloster, also seeking an inquiry of a kind that will be meaningful and provide answers,” he added
Aoife’s parents, James and Carol, told their daughter’s inquest that she died a “horrible death” at UHL on December 19, 2022. The Limerick coroner declared Aoife’s death a medical misadventure following her inquest in April.
An internal HSE review of Aoife’s death found that sepsis protocol was not followed, the emergency department was grossly overcrowded and understaffed, and an escalation protocol that would have eased the pressure that night was not implemented.
An external independent review by Frank Clarke — commissioned by Bernard Gloster — found that Aoife’s death was “almost certainly avoidable”.
However, he was precluded from making findings of facts, and conflicts of evidence between staff about the failure to implement the escalation protocol to ease overcrowding that night were never resolved
Gloster, who has repeatedly apologised to the Johnston family for Aoife’s death, has previously defended Mr Clarke’s inquiry. He confirmed last year that on foot of Mr Clarke’s report, six members of staff were facing disciplinary proceedings, with four on administrative leave.
