THE FATHER OF liver failure sufferer Meadhbh McGivern has said the family were in “shock” after a report found a series of failures led to her missing out on a transplant.

Earlier today, the HIQA document found no one agency was responsible for delays that meant a donor organ at Kings Hospital in London had to be turned down when Meadhbh, 14, could not get there in time.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Joe McGivern said the family were shocked at the “complete and utter failure” of the system to arrange transport. However, he said there was no “malice” in the “bad decisions” that were taken by Crumlin children’s hospital, the HSE ambulance service and the Coast Guard. Mr McGivern said:

This is the stuff of horror shows. Nobody was accountable for the overall logistical decisions that were made and there was a lot of bad decisions made on the night [...] Nobody intentionally blocked us from getting to England. It was just a complete and utter failure of the service to provide a system to safely transport patients.

He added that Meadhbh’s condition is unchanged since the events on the night of July 2, and said the family now have a private air ambulance company on standby should another donor become available in London.

Read more: ‘Four critical decisions’ led to 14-year-old girl’s cancelled transplant >