Transplant girl's father urges protocol review

The father of a Leitrim teenager who missed out on a liver transplant because of problems in getting to London, has described the moment he got the call telling them the organ would be given to someone else.

The father of a teenager who missed out on a liver transplant over the weekend, due to a delay in getting her to London, says there needs to be a review of protocol, to ensure a situation like this never happens again.

Maeve McGivern, 14, from Ballinamore in Co Leitrim has been on a waiting list for a transplant for 11 months, and was classified as a high priority nine weeks ago.

Her family was contacted on Saturday evening to say a liver had become available in London.

The emergency medical support services here told the family that they would co-ordinate transport plans for them and, after a number of options were ruled out, advised them to travel to Strandhill airport to meet up with a Coastguard helicopter.

They rushed to the airport in Co Sligo, and arrived before 11pm that night, but it then emerged the journey could take up to four hours.

This would mean they would not make it to London in the time available for the liver transplant, and Maeve's father Joe got the call from medics to say that the journey was not going to happen.