Heartbroken families share their experiences of UHL in TV documentary on the hospital crisis

A DOCUMENTARY highlighting the experiences of people from the Mid-West region who lost loved ones during their time in UHL has aired.

The exclusive documentary, entitled UHL: Ireland’s Hospital Crisis, aired on Virgin Media One on Monday at 10pm and recounted three people’s experiences of their late family member’s time at UHL and specifically, the emergency department (ED). 

One of those people was Karina Leahy, whose father Patrick ‘Pa’ Leahy passed away in UHL in 2023. Ms Leahy says her father was “tortured from the minute he went in the door”.

“He was failed at every step,” Ms Leahy said. “We are traumatised for watching him suffer - we will never get over it.”

The Leahy family, from Limerick-Cork border town Charleville, firmly believe if Mr Leahy got “basic care”, he would have “got out of hospital and passed with dignity”. 

Mr Leahy attended the ED five times with stomach complaints and for the final time in May 2023, he returned to A&E with severe abdominal pain, which left him “almost passing out”.

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Ms Leahy said that her father was “incredibly tough”, but was “begging for support” following a new symptom of “horrific pain”. She says her father remained on a trolley for two days, “becoming weaker”.

“We never saw the same doctor twice. Sometimes they came on the ward, and never came near dad. We were desperate for somebody to help us. 

“You want to believe you’re in the right place and you want to believe the right people are going to help.. When you’re sitting there watching your father deteriorate in front of your eyes, and you’re begging for the most basic of things to be done, you’re terrified.” 

When Mr Leahy was moved to the High Dependency Unit (HDU), his family were relieved and he was “finally getting the care he should have been weeks before”. Cancer was subsequently diagnosed after a scan of Mr Leahy’s chest.

“Nobody mentioned he might die. We got a phone call to say he was dying. The staff in HDU are incredible, I wish he had been there sooner.”

In the documentary, it is stated that almost 240 people have died on trolleys in UHL over the past five years.

Two other families who recalled their experiences were those of Ashlee Dickinson, whose mother Rachel passed away due to mismanagement by the hospital and Melanie Cleary, whose daughter Eve passed away at 16 due to medical misadventure. 

Ashlee recounted her mother Rachel's tragic experience at UHL,  saying: “You’re trusting that loved ones will be cared for as best as possible, but you don’t know if that’s the case. We shouldn’t be second guessing.”

Ashlee’s mother Rachel, originally from Glasgow but living in Limerick, lost her life in 2023 at age 80, due to a blood clot she developed shortly after undergoing hip surgery. It was concluded that a blood clot stopped her heart and her organs failed.

The family were told that there were complications and that their mother was a high-risk patient, but she was not given any scans despite a history of bad circulation, which raised “big questions” for them.

“She was distressed during the operation, ended up with a blood clot and brought to ICU,” said Ashlee. “She was put on a ventilator, but passed away. 

“The care isn’t adequate. No 80-year-old woman should wait for five days for an operation that should have been done in 24 or 48 hours.

“We don’t have faith in the hospital and we are scared of my dad going in there. A lot of people in Limerick are uneasy. The people in power right now are not doing anything.”

During the documentary, Mary Fogarty of the INMO sheds light on the ongoing crisis at UHL and the issues of overcrowding and staff shortages at the hospital that, during an inquest, was referred to as a “death trap”.

“There are no staff available - one to two nurses for 30 or 40 patients. When you're overcrowded and have no staff, it's a recipe for it not to go right. It is not safe. 

“Catastrophic overcrowding leads to catastrophic outcomes. In my view and on behalf of nurses, it was a grievous mistake. It was so clear it was absolutely wrong that Ennis, Nenagh and St Johns [ED's] were closed.”

Campaigner Melanie Cleary also spoke about the story of her daughter Eve, who was discharged from UHL’s ED after a fall. Eve later died at home from cardiac arrest caused by a blood clot, a risk that went unnoticed due to the chronic overcrowding in UHL.

Melanie is standing in the General Election as an independent hospital candidate on behalf of the Mid-West Hospital Campaign.

“We were shocked at the conditions, the smell of urine was breathtaking. I couldn’t believe it,” Melanie said of her experience at the ED at UHL in 2019.

“We were horrified at how cold Eve was, she had no basics, a pillow or blanket. She was in a lot of pain. It got to the point where she couldn’t feel her leg. She was told her scans and x-ray was clear and she was sent home.”

Eve had a cardiac arrest at home on the stairs 10 days later and was brought to UHL, where she was pronounced dead. Her mother Melanie said: “Eve didn’t have anywhere to go that night, only UHL.

“I wish they had listened and learned from our beautiful Eve’s death. We found out at Eve’s trial [inquest] that her life could have been saved. She had blood clots in her legs and liver, she needed one simple injection.

“I think a lot of staff are doing their best, but it is not good enough.”

There are approximately 400,000 people in the region relying on UHL and one A&E to serve that population.

The final speaker was a woman who spoke of her own personal experience of the hospital, Michelle Daly Hayes, who was on a trolley for 12 hours with symptoms of sepsis. 

“It is a lottery and not a lottery in a good way,” she said.

“Ireland is a first-world country, and one hospital that isn’t working needs to be resolved and resolved quickly. You feel the staff is as powerless as you are.”