The daughter of a woman who was filmed being poorly treated by a member of staff at University Hospital Limerick has thanked the public for sharing the footage – adding that she does not want an investigation to end with an apology or a promise that “lessons will be learned.”
The HSE has called the clip, which has been shared hundreds of thousands of times on social media, “deeply concerning.”
Aisling Hogan said her niece came across the video on TikTok on Monday. It was filmed by another patient across from her, it shows Ms Hogan’s late mother, Ita Tobin, who had dementia, interacting with a health care assistant at UHL.
In the video, Ms Tobin asks for a cup of tea, to which she is told “no.”
Ms Tobin had forgotten she had already had “teatime”. The health care assistant told her: “You are crazy. And you are making me crazy. You’ve just finished your tea.”
The video is believed to have been filmed last year, before Ms Tobin passed away on August 23, 2025. It was taken not long before Ms Tobin moved into a nursing home due to her dementia being advanced.
Aisling Hogan, the daughter of the late Ita Tobin, said on Wednesday night that the family wants a full investigation into what happened to Ita, with appropriate disciplinary action arising from that investigation.
“The family’s position is that this must include the potential dismissal of the carer concerned if the investigation substantiates the conduct shown and heard in the recording,” a statement issued through the Protest of UHL Limerick social media page read.
Ms Hogan added that her own daughter, who works as a health care assistant in St John’s Hospital in Limerick, was distraught by the video.
Ms Hogan said she would be seeking comprehensive training or retraining for those caring for elderly and vulnerable patients within UHL, “particularly patients suffering from dementia or other conditions affecting their ability to communicate or advocate for themselves.”
That should extend, she said, where appropriate, not only to relevant UHL/HSE staff but also to carers and healthcare assistants supplied by TTM Healthcare and any other outside agency providing staff to care for vulnerable patients within the hospital.
Ms Hogan also said she would “not simply accept an assurance that this training will be carried out.”
She intends to ask UHL for written evidence of the programme actually implemented — what training was provided, what it covered, which categories of staff received it and when it was completed, according to the campaign.
If Ita’s experience is going to be used to say that “lessons have been learned”, the family wants to be able to see what those lessons actually resulted in, said the statement.
It is understood Ms Hogan intends to ask UHL and/or TTM Healthcare to make an appropriate donation to The Alzheimer Society of Ireland in memory of her mother, Ita. This would allow something positive to come from what happened to a woman who lived with advanced dementia.