STAFF AT UNIVERSITY Hospital Limerick (UHL) say they are under “huge pressure” to deal with the large volume of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests submitted since the death of Aoife Johnston.
Two staff members who deal with FOI requests and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requests left their roles in recent weeks and have not yet been replaced, The Journal understands.
Another person who left a management role in the department last year has also not been replaced, staff said.
A remaining employee said staff are under “huge pressure” as they are “inundated” with requests. They said the team is missing deadlines for FOI and GDPR requests, despite their best efforts.
There has been an increase in requests from the public following the tragic death of Aoife Johnston at UHL’s emergency department in December 2022, the staff member added.
The 16-year-old died after suffering from meningitis-related sepsis, but timely treatment could have saved her life. Following an inquest in April, Limerick Coroner John McNamara returned a verdict of medical misadventure in her death.
The information requests are a mix of people wanting their own personal patient history, relatives seeking the records of a loved one who has died, and solicitors seeking records on a patient’s behalf.
Some people are requesting their records so they can transfer their care to another hospital due to concerns about standards at UHL, a staff member said.
“People are leaving the hospital to go to other hospitals after the scandal,” they added.
The employee said the current, reduced team is not getting enough support, stating: “If the public only knew there is no management.”
Maurice Quinlivan, Sinn Féin TD for Limerick City, said he is aware that some patients are transferring their care to other hospitals.
I’ve heard that before – people who want to access services in different hospitals, whether that be Cork or Galway or Dublin.
Quinlivan told The Journal there are “huge levels of understaffing across all levels at University Hospital Limerick… it’s everywhere, porters, hospital consultants, junior doctors, nurses, auxiliary staff”.
He added that when people make FOI requests, “they should be getting them in a timely fashion”.
When asked for comment about the vacant roles, a spokesperson for UHL said: “Work is currently underway to prioritise vacant posts for recruitment, including posts within the FOI and data protection functions at UL Hospitals Group.”
The spokesperson noted that each of the six HSE Health Regions, including HSE Mid West (which covers Limerick), has recently “been provided with its own specified number of whole-time equivalent staff and they can, within that approved number, replace, recruit and prioritise posts”.
They did not answer specific questions related to employees’ concerns about staffing levels.
Aoife Johnston’s death has put services at UHL, in particular its emergency department, under the spotlight. The Mid West Hospital Campaign Group last month said it was “horrified” that a Hiqa inquiry into overcrowding at UHL won’t be completed until next summer.
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