The father of a nine-year-old girl who died less than 36 hours after being sent home from hospital said yesterday he was told she had a tummy bug even though she had major surgery three weeks ago.
Frances Sheridan from Cootehill, Co Cavan, had her appendix removed at Cavan General Hospital last month but when she complained about stomach pains last Friday, her parents brought her back to the hospital.
"She was a couple of hours in casualty and they did tests on her but the doctors thought it was a tummy bug. They told us to give her fluids," said her father, Mr Brian Sheridan, yesterday.
Frances died in the early hours of Sunday morning and attempts by her father and her aunt to resuscitate her were unsuccessful.
Last night the North Eastern Health Board extended its sympathies to her family and its chief executive officer, Mr Paul Robinson, said he was establishing a group to "review the circumstances surrounding her death".
The hospital has been at the centre of controversy over the suspension of two consultants last August and according to Hospital Action TD Mr Paudge Connolly "there is only a fire brigade service at Cavan hospital now and I do not believe it is best or safe practice".
He believes the girl's death is symptomatic of an overcrowded and under-resourced A&E department and that the additional pressure on staff since Monaghan General Hospital was taken off call for emergencies nearly two years ago raises serious questions about the safety of patients.
The body of the girl was transferred to the Dublin City Morgue where State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy was expected to perform a post mortem yesterday.
At their home in New Line, Cootehill, the girl's mother, Ms Rosemary Sheridan, her brothers Tony, Brian, Michael, Patrick and only sister Katy, were being comforted by family and friends.
Her father said she was in Cavan General Hospital for about four days when her appendix was removed and when she came home she was her normal "bubbly self, always joking and messing".
She loved going to school and was in fourth class in St Michael's national school in Cootehill. She went back to school over a week ago but on Friday evening she complained of stomach pain.
Her parents brought her back to Cavan General Hospital and to the A&E department.
She returned home later that day but the pains continued and in the early hours of Sunday morning her family called an ambulance. She was dead before it arrived.
Her father said he and one of her aunts had tried CPR to resuscitate her after they called for an ambulance.
"My sister-in-law had done a course on it but nothing happened, it was no use. Now we just want to get Frances home.
"We don't honestly know what happened and I am not about to start making assumptions. We are waiting for the gardaí to stay in contact with us," he said.
Mr Connolly expressed his sympathies to the family and said he had warned about the situation in Cavan hospital last month.
"At the North Eastern Health Board meeting in January about the service plan for this year, I proposed rejection of the 2004 service plan on the basis that there were inadequate resources to provide a proper service. I based my argument 100 per cent on the situation at Cavan General Hospital, the shortcomings in the provision of health services in Cavan/Monaghan generally and ultimately the failure of the health services there."