UL Hospitals Group Apologises After Shannon Dementia Sufferer Left ED

Photo (c) ClareFM

The UL Hospitals Group has confirmed that it’s examining the circumstances behind an incident which resulted in a Clare woman leaving the region’s main hospital barefoot and with a IV drip in her arm.

The 80-year-old, was brought by ambulance from her nursing home to University Hospital Limerick, but family members were left in shock when she arrived at the door of her Shannon home later that evening.

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80-year-old Margaret Kirkby, who suffers from dementia, was taken by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick last Friday, from a nursing home in Clare.

It’s understood she was suffering from low oxygen levels, and was given intravenous antibiotic treatment in the ED.

The Irish Independent reports that she left the emergency department that evening, barefoot and with an IV drip in her arm, and secured a taxi to her Shannon home, where she was greeted by her son.

In a statement, the UL Hospitals Group has reiterated an apology, which it says it has already expressed directly to her family.

It goes on to say the level of supervision required by all patients is determined on a case-by-case basis by the medical and nursing teams.