Review group to be set up to consider protocol on administration of medicinal cannabis in hospitals

Review to include consideration for introduction of Ava's Protocol after Cork girl Ava Barry

Vera Twomey with her daughter Ava Barry in 2016. Picture: Denis Minihane

Terms of reference are being drawn up for a review of the medicinal cannabis access programme which will include consideration for the introduction of a protocol named after Cork girl Ava Barry.

The 13-year-old, from Aghabullogue, was provided with access to medicinal cannabis for treatment for seizures arising from a form of epilepsy called Dravet syndrome, after a campaign by her mother Vera Twomey.

A ministerial licence was granted in 2017, allowing Ava to receive medicinal cannabis.

An inquest into her death, held in December 2024 at Cork City Coroners Court, heard Ava had died of bronchopneumonia in Cork University Hospital, in the early hours of May 27, 2023.

The inquest heard there was no local or national policy on how medicines like cannabis, granted under a special licence, are administered in hospitals.

Ava’s mother Vera had to remain with her in CUH for several weeks, as she was the only person who was licensed to give Ava the medical cannabis.

After returning a verdict of natural causes in her death, the jury recommended a national policy be developed to provide for greater supervision in the administration of medicines which are subject to a special licence.

However, there is no date for the introduction of what has now become known as Ava’s Protocol.

In recent days, in reply to a parliamentary question by Social Democrats TD Pádraig Rice, health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said the Review of Access to Cannabis for Medical Use is intended to review the current operation of the Medical Cannabis Access Programme. 

The review will include “the current operation of the ministerial licence, which will include consideration of the recommendations by Cork City Coroner's office in 2024”.

A chairperson has now been put in place to the review group, with members to be appointed this month, along with the drafting of the terms of reference. 

The review is to take a year from its commencement date, she said.

Barrister Doireann O’Mahony, who represented Ava’s family at her inquest, welcomed the review but said: “It is important to remember that these recommendations arose from a detailed inquest process, with the clear aim of preventing a recurrence of the circumstances that led to Ava’s death. They were made in 2024."