THE HEALTH MINISTER has said that it is a “lesson to everybody” after it emerged that a distressing video, thought initially to feature University Hospital Limerick, was not filmed in the premises at all. 

Speaking after the launch of a report today, Jennifer Caroll MacNeill said: “I suppose it’s a lesson to everybody to take a moment and just establish the facts first.”

The video, which has been seen over 200,000 times on social media, shows a healthcare worker abruptly telling a patient “no” after they politely ask if they can have a cup of tea.

The healthcare worker is also heard saying: “You are crazy.”

It was widely reported that the video was filmed at UHL after the family of Ita Tobin, who had been a patient at UHL, said publicly that they believed the patient was their mother. 

Aisling Hogan, from Limerick, who went public in seeking answers from the HSE, claiming the female patient in the video was her mother Ita Tobin, said Sunday night that she was “wholeheartedly” sorry that she was mistaken.

“I am deeply sorry for getting this wrong,” she wrote on Facebook. “When I first saw the video, myself and my family genuinely and wholeheartedly believed the woman (patient) was our mother. We wholeheartedly apologise for the upset caused.”

She added that she was shocked by the outcome of the HSE’s enquiries, and she had no further comment to make at this point.

Last week, Carroll MacNeill commented on the video, saying she recognised the “distress and hurt” caused by its circulation. 

She acknowledged that the HSE was examining the footage and “seeking to establish all of the relevant facts”.

On Sunday, HSE Mid West confirmed that the video was not filmed in UHL and did not show Ita Tobin. The hospital group also said that the video was not filmed in any HSE Mid West hospital, and did not feature any of its staff.

The relevant hospital, elsewhere in the country, and the family of the patient have since been informed. The unnamed hospital has confirmed that the footage originated there.

Caroll MacNeill today said, “Sometimes we’re too quick – whether it’s in politics, whether it’s in media, whether it’s on social media – we’re too quick as a people to jump to a particular conclusion instead of establishing the facts.

“We are still a fact-based society. We are still a science-based society. And sometimes a little pause is no harm in relation to that.”

The minister also said that she was “very sorry” that UHL staff had experienced abusive comments in relation to the video. 

“They [at UHL] are extremely hardworking, they are dedicated to patient safety,” she said, acknowledging the particularly high number of patients presenting during August. 

She said that she did not want to “jump to any conclusions” regarding the hospital the incident happened at, but that she “would allow that investigation” to happen before commenting further. 

Caroll MacNeill made the comments following the launch of the Medical Council’s Medical Workforce Intelligence Report 2025.

The report found 22,257 doctors practising in Ireland, with almost a quarter of doctors experiencing barriers to safe patient care on a weekly basis. 

This was due to pressure on workloads, time spent on administration and bureaucracy, and overcrowding.

Meanwhile, nearly one-fifth (5,459) of doctors registered on the medical register were practising abroad only, while nearly 6% (1,712) were not clinically active at all. 

Ireland also continues to rely on doctors who qualified overseas, with nearly 30% of doctors practising here qualifying outside of Ireland, the EU or the UK.