Coronavirus: Kidney transplant recipient misses out on graduation

A student who was prevented from finishing her Ulster University degree because she was shielding from coronavirus has said she has "no idea" when she will graduate.

Emma Donaghy, who underwent a kidney transplant in 2015, said she has been unable to pursue radiography work, unlike classmates who have graduated.

She left her hospital placement early on 12 March due to Covid-19.

Ms Donaghy had completed 11 out of 12 practical assessments.

However, she believed she would still be able to do the final assessment and graduate, as scheduled, on 10 June.

Ms Donaghy said she is frustrated that despite receiving assurances from the university that students will be able to "pursue their chosen degree programme on schedule and as planned" in spite of Covid-19, she is still waiting to find out when she will be graduate.

An Ulster University spokesperson said that "government guidance relating to shielding requirements did impact on some Ulster students' placement".

They added that "the health and wellbeing of our students remains our primary concern".

Ms Donaghy was diagnosed as a child with a genetic condition called Alport Syndrome, which resulted in her kidneys failing.

As the recipient of a kidney in 2015, she received a shielding letter from her GP and the renal transplant team at Belfast City Hospital.

She was completing her final university assessment at Antrim Area Hospital Emergency Department when coronavirus concerns were raised in Northern Ireland.

Ms Donaghy said she got a phone call on 12 March from her course director advising that, because of her condition and Covid-19, she should leave her placement.

Ms Donaghy agreed to leave, but said she did so believing alternative arrangements would be put in place ensuring she would still be able to graduate, as scheduled, on 10 June.

She claimed the final assessment, completion of which would have allowed her to graduate, could have been done "in under 30 minutes".

An Ulster University spokesperson said that "those required to shield were advised to cease placement in line with official guidance on work-related risk and the shielding directive".

They added that it has "committed to do everything in its power based on government guidelines, to enable students to complete assessments as soon as it is deemed safe to do so".

The student radiographer said that fellow classmates were also later taken off their placements due to coronavirus concerns.

However, she said that all other students had managed to complete this particular assessment, so were able to graduate on 10 June.

"They (other students) are out working already on the temporary register while their degrees come through," Ms Donaghy said.

"Despite receiving offers myself, I cannot apply for them at the moment because I am not yet qualified."

She added that "she appreciates that her course director took her out of the placement early because of health reasons".

However, she maintained that had she been allowed to stay on longer, she could have completed the assessment and would have been able to graduate with her classmates.

On 28 May, her transplant consultant, Dr Aisling Courtney, wrote to the university saying it "should allow Emma to return to the hospital for one day to complete the final assessment and graduate as scheduled".

Speaking to BBC News NI, Dr Courtney said that her advice to the university was that the "risk-to-benefit ratio for Emma to complete one, single final assessment, in her opinion, was a calculated but considered risk" that was "appropriate".

On 31 May, Ms Donaghy said the university offered that she could complete "a simulated assessment at Jordanstown campus, provided a risk assessment is carried out, after lockdown eases".

However, she said that such an "open-ended offer" would not have allowed her to graduate with fellow classmates.

"Once I am able to complete this assessment, whenever that will be, all my work will then have to go to the external examiner before I can graduate.

"Those exam boards sit in June, which I have now missed, they also sit in August and then the one after that isn't until February 2021," Emma said.

"So I really have no idea when I will graduate," she added.