Inquest to open into death at UHL of Aoife Johnston (16)

Teenager had been waiting on trolley for almost 12 hours before she died

A four-day inquest is scheduled to open today into the circumstances of the death of schoolgirl Aoife Johnston (16) at University Hospital Limerick (UHL).

Aoife, who was from Shannon in Co Clare, died at UHL on December 19, 2022, after contracting bacterial meningitis and then sepsis.

She had been on a trolley for almost 12 hours waiting to be treated in UHL’s accident and emergency department.

A systems analysis review has already been carried out into the tragedy and a further report is now being led by former chief justice Frank Clarke.

Coroner John McNamara ordered the Limerick Coroner’s Court inquest into her death and it is expected to take four days at a hearing this week.

The inquest is set to hear from a large number of witnesses, including health staff who were on duty at the time.

There have been two high-profile patient deaths at the hospital this year.

A 16-year-old died suddenly in the emergency department with breathing difficulties on January 29.

Aoife had initially spent two weeks in hospital with a serious respiratory infection and was discharged on January 23.

She was readmitted on January 29 but collapsed and died in the emergency department.

A preliminary report on the circumstances of her death has been completed and given to her family.

In February, a 33-year-old woman died four days after she was admitted to the hospital feeling unwell during pregnancy. She was transferred from the maternity hospital to UHL, where her condition deteriorated.

An inquiry is currently under way into to her death.

Just last month, an inquest heard that a father of one may have been lying dead for more than an hour on the floor of UHL’s emergency department before he was discovered.

The daughter of Martin Abbott (65) said she wanted the circumstances of her father’s death to serve as an urgent catalyst for change in Ireland’s healthcare system.

The death of Mr Abbott prompted a full systems analysis review at UHL.

A verdict of death by medical misadventure was returned by the coroner.

UL Hospitals Group last month released a preliminary systems analysis report which was ordered immediately after Aoife Johnston’s death.

It found that there has been a 12-hour delay in caring for the teen’s developing sepsis.

The study was conducted by two senior doctors who were not associated with UHL.

In one finding, it said that overcrowding was now effectively endemic at UHL’s emergency department.

Further, there was only one emergency department consultant on call over the weekend that Ms Johnston was brought for treatment.

It also found that, over that weekend, there were not enough nurses and medical staff on roster to cater for the large number of patients seeking treatment.

This, the study found, resulted in “low experience levels of low situational awareness” of matters in the emergency department.

It acknowledged that, on the weekend that Aoife sought treatment, UHL was struggling to cope with unprecedented demand.

The Johnston family, in a statement through their counsel, Damien Tansey SC, said they want answers about what happened.

“The family are looking forward to the inquest, when an opportunity will be afforded them, through their lawyers, to seek explanations as to why what happened in Limerick happened,” it said.