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THE FAMILY OF a teenager who died after waiting for treatment in a hospital for 12 hours has criticised the HSE for not consulting them on the parameters of the inquiry into her death.
Aoife Johnston, 16, died on 19 December 2022 after waiting 12 hours in University Hospital Limerick’s emergency department for treatment for sepsis.
Her family has said that her condition deteriorated to such a degree during that time that other patients began advocating for her to be seen.
A solicitor for the family Damien Tansey said that they are “haunted” by their memories of being in hospital waiting for Aoife to receive treatment.
“You cannot imagine the difficulties they are confronted on a daily basis, and it was particularly acute and difficult for them just coming up to Christmas,” Tansey said.
“They were in the hospital for the entire of the 12 hours when they were pleading with the medical staff to assist their daughter, other patients in the casualty department that night were advocating as well for Aoife,” he said.
“They saw that she was in serious danger and they too pleaded with the medical staff to attend to Aoife,” he added.
“They are living with that experience on a daily basis and it’s haunting them.”
The HSE has announced that an independent inquiry would be carried out into Johnston’s death, led by retired chief justice Frank Clarke.
On Tuesday, the HSE published its terms of reference for the investigation.
HSE chief executive Bernard Gloster said the judge-led inquiry would provide “an evidence-based report” on the circumstances surrounding Johnston’s death as well as the clinical and corporate governance of University Hospital Limerick.
A systems analysis review (SAR) report found that overcrowding in UHL’s emergency department is “endemic”, and that doctor and nurse staffing levels are “insufficient”.
Tansey said that the family were informed of the terms of reference the evening before they were published, and “without any consultation with the family, without any warning that they were about to be published”.
“There was absolutely no discussion or consultation with us, the legal representatives, or the Johnson family with a view to the makeup of those terms of reference,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“Basic courtesy dictates, for example, that the family first should have been told in advance that the terms of reference were about to be published, and it was entirely inappropriate that they should learn about this effectively from the media.
“The media announced the fact that the terms of reference had already been determined before, by email, we got the terms of reference.
“Clearly, after due consideration and consultation with the family, we expect that we will seek to add to, or perhaps alter, some of the terms of reference.”
Tansey said that the report from the review committee was delivered to the family a day before the anniversary of Aoife Johnston’s death.
He also said that there appeared to be at least one interim report that the family had not received.
“The main issue they are now concerned about is the fact that they learned everything from the media… that’s not appropriate given the nature of this tragedy. It’s an unspeakable tragedy,” Tansey said.
“The Johnson family, for example, got the report produced by the review committee a day before the anniversary of this tragedy, and they were dealing with that, and were challenged in the manner in which they were dealing with that and they then get the report.”
The HSE said in a statement that it is “very conscious of the significant upset and distress for Aoife’s family”.
“The CEO has previously communicated an open-ended invitation to meet with them about any and all issues associated with Aoife’s care and the systems analysis report which was provided to them in December.
“This invitation remains.”
Tansey said that the Johnston family and their legal representatives are “ready, willing and able” to attend a meeting with the HSE, and said “we will attend as soon as a concrete invitation emerges”.
“Big Names”. …. Big Names in their own minds!!!!
Does 2FM train them all to speak with the same voice / accent. It’s like nails on a blackboard.
Radio nova all the way.
@Brian Dunne: 100%
@Brian Dunne: Same playlist since it launched when it asked Metro Newspaper readers to list their favourite rock songs. They have been sticking to that rigidly. You may argue that goes for all the stations, but they inject fresh new songs every week. Radio Nova play the same 2 or 3 songs from about 10 artists
@Jack Burton: I have to agree unfortunately!
@Jack Burton: but that’s obviously what many people like…their ratings are increasing
@Brian Dunne: They do some Powerballads throwback that really hits the spot, they’re not afraid of bringing in the cheese.
@Jack Burton: I love Radio Nova but yes I’ve noticed all Summer it’s the same songs every few days. So many other great 80’s hits, plenty of B-sides not sure why they don’t branch out their playlists more.
There was no collapse in listenership when Tubridy left his radio slot either, all evidence points to high earners at RTE having little or no impact on ratings so salaries are entirely unjustified.
Of course our government doesn’t care and writes them blank cheques regardless.
Big names lol they were so big they were snapped up immediately id say.
Wouldn’t believe a word of it 2fm pure mule
@Brendan Murphy: total muck
@Brendan Murphy: man doesn’t like radio station so believes that nobody else can possibly like it, to the extent that he believes that independent listenership figures are bogus
Plenty of stations much better than that tripe
@Ian Cryan: Spot on .
It’s because those mid-morning until afternoon presenters on Today FM are insufferable….
@Noel Leech: you mean cash machine fm?
@Brian Dunne: oh yeah that’s the one, good man
I’ll stick with Radio Nova. PJ and Jim in the morning and Pat Courtenay for the drive home keep me sane in the traffic.
@Ger Whelan: My only problem with Nova is that they play the same 2 or 3 songs from each artist.
Don’t belive this at all. Pure fiction. Maybe an audit or review of methodology of data collection.
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: Can we have an audit or review on the data that leads you to call this fiction??
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: What a silly statement.
2FM is station of wannabes with notions. Full stop.
Just goes to show, clinging onto talent that once worked well or seemed good isn’t necessarily the only option. There’s always a replacement, there’s always a roll of the dice, it may even be from people tuning in to see what the new shows are like, a bounce so to speak.
Just AI presenting now
Who paid for this survey?….enough said!
Not the station it was years ago…
@Mark Gannon: Ah Larry and the Just a minute Quiz , Good times .
Timewarp Ireland on the interweb , no ads , no DJs , music heaven.
‘In spite of stars leaving’ . Should that not be ‘because of stars leaving’?
Lefty station
@Fintan Pox: right fool
@Joe Kelly: change the f to a t in fool!!
According to the far right on venture capitalist Elon Musks X platform, these figures are inflated by AI. lol
The question is who got greased to say RTE 2Fm has seen an increase in listenership figures
Have a spotify playlist for work over 110 hours long.Will never go back to the radio.2 songs then cringey talk by usually 2 to 4 eejits pretending to be having the craic,ads,news,ads,more talk,maybe a song,news,ads,news,ads,ads,ads,ads.
It’s a joke.One Of those things that only reveals itself to be so bad when you step away from it
Honestly who needs the same news spoken word for word every hour TEN times a day.Never again.
How do they know even if we listen @ all have they a bug in our homes or what coz nobody ever came knocking on my door or rang me up just another white wash poll that means nothing when it’s certainly non transparent
@liam ward: https://info.ipsosmrbi.com/jnlr
That’s how.
This proves that “Talent” is a liability.
Callan gained more than when Turdity was presenting! I thought he was “”De Talent!??” More proof the Management Haven’t a Clue! LOL!!!
For a national station, 2FM’s listenership is so poor to start with, anything would be an improvement.
Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
It says nothing to me about my life
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music they constantly play. The Smiths
So it was just the people that left the listeners couldn’t stand then!
Big echoes still rubbish
Mistake in headline. Should be “because of ” instead of “despite”!
JLNR is total nonsense. Not worth the paper it’s written on.
Why does the journal.ie allow some of the conspiracy posts to remain. We complain when Twitter and Instagram don’t take down obvious spam. Many of the postings on this topic with their anti MSM are straight out of the extreme right playbook.
What wavelength is it on.
have your say