LATEST: 'In hindsight, Aoife was probably the sickest person in the ED'

THE NUMBER of high-priority patients in University Hospital Limerick's emergency department on the weekend that Aoife Johnston died was unprecedented.

This was the view of assistant director of nursing, Nicola Quinn, who said that if Category 2 patients had been re-assessed, Aoife would have been seen quicker.

Ms Quinn said this didn't happen - “it was too busy that day, they didn't do it.”

“It was a miss” - she acknowledged in Kilmallock Courthouse at the continuing inquest this Tuesday into the death of the Shannon teenager at UHL in December 2022.

“She wasn't doing well.

“We were overwhelmed with the amount coming in, that's where Aoife was let down.”

She said that having more than 100 patients in the ED was not unprecedented, but that having that many high-priority patients was.

The weather that weekend in December 2022 was adverse with weather warnings in place, but no plan was in place to deal with a potential patient surge at the hospital.

Ms Quinn told the court that since Aoife's death, an escalation plan now exists at the hospital. There were staffing deficits, and Ms Quinn said she “exhausted all options for any available staff.”

Ms Quinn told the court: “It is a tragedy”, adding, as she got emotional on the witness stand, that she regrets that day and so do her colleagues.

READ MORE: Doctor left HSE soon after Aoife Johnston's death

Nurse Allison Nolan was the senior clinical nurse manager on duty that weekend and she said that Aoife was not highlighted to her as a patient in any report or risk assessment.

She pointed out that there were “competing pressures for everyone.”

Ms Nolan agreed with Damien Tansey, senior counsel for the Johnston family, that in hindsight Aoife was probably the sickest person in the ED.

“We didn't know,” she told the court.

The inquest continues tomorrow.