HIQA to probe bungled air lift

THE family of teenager Maedhbh McGivern, who lost out on a liver transplant after a bungled attempt to fly her to a London hospital, has welcomed a state inquiry into the incident but said they do not want a witch hunt.

“We don’t want heads to roll,” said her father, Joe McGivern.

“We know there was no badness or vindictiveness in what happened and whoever made the mistakes knows themselves where they went wrong.

“We just want to make sure that it doesn’t happen again — to us or any other family.”

Health Minister James Reilly apologised to the McGiverns by phone yesterday and announced he had asked the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) to arrange an inquiry into why Maedhbh was let down.

The 14-year-old from Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, who has been on the transplant list for almost a year, was informed by King’s Cross Hospital in London early last Saturday evening that a donor liver was available.

But by the time she and her parents had been allocated an air ambulance helicopter, it was too late for them to make the 2am deadline for reaching London and the liver was given to another patient.

Crumlin Children’s Hospital, the Health Service Executive, private emergency transport company EMSS, the Coast Guard and the Air Corps were all involved in the efforts to get Maedhbh to London.

There are conflicting accounts and unanswered questions over which aircraft were available, where, when and at what time formal requests were made for assistance.

According to different accounts, there were numerous options available that would have got the McGiverns to London in time and it is not clear why they were not followed up.

“There were too many cooks in the broth on Saturday night,” Mr McGivern said.

“It was the old problem of the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing and the result is we’ve lost a liver for our little lassie.”

In a statement on the inquiry yesterday, the Department of Health said: “HIQA will work with all of the relevant agencies involved in the affair, will clarify the facts that led to this unacceptable situation and will report back to Minister Reilly with recommendations on how best to operate transport arrangements to ensure such a failure does not occur in future.

“Meanwhile, Minister Reilly expressed his deep concern and sympathy to the McGivern family over the traumatic events that have led to this lost opportunity.”

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore backed the inquiry.

“We have to find out what exactly did happen,” he said. “It is a hugely tragic situation and very distressful situation.”

Mr McGivern said he accepted the pledges were made in good faith. “The one good thing to come out of this mess is that the transplant team were on to say that the liver was able to be used and the recipient is doing well. That’s our loss this time but we wish the other person well.”