Minister for Health James Reilly has announced an inquiry into why a 14-year-old girl missed a potential life-saving transplant because of a failure by State agencies to arrange transportation to a London hospital on time.
Maedhbh McGivern from Leitrim lost an opportunity for a liver transplant on Saturday after the Health Service Executive and the Department of Transport failed to organise a flight until it was too late.
Ms McGivern from Ballinamore was about to board a Coast Guard helicopter at Strandhill airport in Co Sligo on Saturday night when she and her parents, Joe and Assumpta, were informed they would not make it to King’s College Hospital London before the 2am deadline.
The family had been informed by the hospital that the transplant would need to take place quickly because the donation liver belonged to a “non-breathing” donor.
Dr Reilly said today he had requested the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) to co-ordinate an inquiry into the events and circumstances surrounding the child’s failure to be transported to London in time for the operation.
Hiqa will work with all of the relevant agencies involved “to clarify the facts that led to this unacceptable situation,” he said.
The agency will report back to the Minister with recommendations on how best to operate transport arrangements to ensure such a failure does not occur in future.
Dr Reilly expressed his “deep concern and sympathy” to the McGivern family over the events that have led to “this lost opportunity”.
The Health Service Executive and the Department of Transport gave different accounts last night of when the Coast Guard was first informed that an airlift was needed.
In a statement last night the HSE said that it contacted the Coast Guard at “20.08hrs” on Saturday to request an aircraft “on a priority level 1 call. The Coast Guard advised that they had no aircraft available,” it said.
At “approximately 10pm” the Coast Guard contacted them to say an aircraft was available in Sligo and the patient should be brought there. The HSE statement continued that when the McGivern family arrived in Sligo “they were advised by the Coast Guard crew that the flight time would be up to 4 hours”. This was relayed to the London hospital, which “advised that this would be outside of the time window available to carry out the surgery”.
However, a statement from the Department of Transport last night said the Coast Guard received the request from HSE Ambulance Control at the later time of “20:50pm” on Saturday. This was 42 minutes later than the HSE said it first contacted them.
The department said it “tasked the Sligo-based Coast Guard helicopter to carry out the mission . . . Journey time from Sligo airport to Heathrow is approximately 3.5 hours”. At “22:49pm” the Coast Guard was told the airlift had been cancelled “as the shelf-life of the donor liver was exceeded, taking into account the travel time”.
Coast Guard crew at Sligo airport told the McGivern family they had been available all evening, and that no one had contacted them.
Joe McGivern, father of Maedhbh, said last night the family was seeking an explanation.
“I don’t do blame . . .” But he said “we certainly would like someone to tell us what happened,” Mr McGivern said.
He said he wouldn’t like to see anyone else go through “what we’ve been through this past 12 hours or so.” What if it had been a life-and-death situation? he asked “What if someone died because of a cock-up?”
His wife Assumpta said their daughter Maedhbh was “extremely, dangerously ill”. She “has been at school just two weeks this year” and is on high dosages of medication and painkillers. The McGiverns have two children, Maedhbh and 16-year-old Ciara.
“Eight, nine weeks ago that was upgraded to highest priority, whether adult or paediatric,” Mr McGivern said yesterday.
Maedhbh “has had liver trouble for years but she’s a real little fighter”, he said. They were “distraught” over the disappointment of Saturday night, Mrs McGivern said.
Mr McGivern said he would have arranged travel for his daughter with a private company had he known what was going to happen.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said it was a hugely stressful situation for the McGivern family. "I think the priority has to be to ensure that she's enabled to get a transplant," he said.
Dara Calleary, Fianna Fáil defence spokesman, said the breakdown in planning was incomprehensible. Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin called on the Minister to detail publicly where the failings occurred.