Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, to the House.

Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House at this late hour. The Minister will be aware of the story of the liver transplant that did not happen at the weekend. We had the media to rely on for the story over the weekend. I would be grateful if the Minister would give the House an outline of what happened. It appears now, although I cannot confirm it, that the girl's father has concluded that in future he will have his own private arrangement in place. I am sure it would be difficult for him to have trust in a future situation.

It is fair to say that a liver transplant is one of the most difficult transplants that can be done. Livers are not easily sustained. There are other organs that in transplant can more readily be organised to do that. For this girl in particular this is not just a communication breakdown. We are talking about her life, and the quality of her life is already poor.

I appreciate that an enormous amount of goodwill has gone into this area over the years. People have spoken out about the way they have been helped by all the people involved in the medical fields, the Irish Coast Guard and so on. I pay tribute to the work that has been done. However, for this girl that is not sufficient.

I would be grateful if the Minister of State would give the House an outline of what happened. Specifically, was either the Government jet or another jet made available at any point? Was it turned down and, if so, why did that happen? Why was Northern Ireland not an option in this train of events? The family happened to live close to the Border and given that this girl was on a list for a long time, somebody might have noted the geographical location of her home.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly. I thank the Senator for raising the matter.

The Minister announced yesterday that an inquiry is to be set up into the events relating to the case of a 14 year old girl from Leitrim who lost an opportunity for a liver transplant due a failure in patient transportation facilities.

The Minister has been in contact with the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, which has undertaken to co-ordinate an inquiry into the events and circumstances surrounding the failure by the Health Service Executive's patient transport services to transfer the teenager to London in time for the operation.

HIQA will work with all of the relevant agencies involved. It will clarify the facts that led to this situation and will report to the Minister, Deputy Reilly, with recommendations on how best to operate transport arrangements to ensure such a failure does not occur in future.

The Minister expressed his deep concern and sympathy to the family over the traumatic events that have led to this lost opportunity. The Minister would also like to assure the family that the purpose of the HIQA inquiry is to ensure that their family and others in a similar predicament do not face such a heartbreaking outcome in future.

It would not be appropriate to get into the detail of the matter until there is a full understanding of the sequence of events, which HIQA will seek to establish.

An air ambulance service is currently provided by the Air Corps through a service level agreement between the Department of Health and the Department of Defence. The Air Corps service provides for the following: inter-hospital transfer of patients with spinal or other serious injury or illness; neonates requiring immediate medical intervention in Ireland; patients requiring specialised emergency treatment in the UK; organ retrieval teams within Ireland; and paediatric patients requiring immediate medical intervention in Ireland.

In this particular case the normal stand-by Air Corps helicopter was unavailable as it had been called to another emergency.

There was a short window of time in which the transplantation of the liver could have taken place. The confusion in arranging transport for the teenager in response to the call that the liver had become available led to a delay. This resulted in the transplant coordinator in London deciding that the young girl would not arrive in time for the transplant to take place and subsequently the operation was cancelled.

The HSE national ambulance service has a maritime and aviation operation manual, which is reviewed on an annual basis. This deals with all types of missions in respect of aero-medical transport of patients to the HSE from the Air Corps and the Irish Coast Guard.

Since January 2011 to date, 41 air ambulance missions assisting liver transplant patients, neonatal patients, serious illness patients and spinal injury patients have been enacted, both nationally and internationally. The Irish Coast Guard has facilitated the HSE with the transport of a transplant patient in the past few months, and has assisted the national ambulance services on approximately 15 other occasions.

The Minister awaits the outcome of the HIQA review in order to address any deficiencies in the current air ambulance service to avoid a similar occurrence in the future.

Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)
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The Senator may ask a supplementary question but not make a statement.

Susan O'Keeffe (Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State. The inquiry is most welcome. Does the Minister of State know how long it will take for the inquiry's report to be published? In answer to my direct question on the jet I was told I could not have these details because of the HIQA inquiry but the story may well be covered by the media. This may cause a difficulty further down the line. My specific question is when will the report be available.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I understand it will be made available as quickly as possible to ensure the services which were required in this instance will be available in the future.