Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Postmortem plan for babies is ‘temporary’
Anger over Liverpool hospital move Decision shows no compassion for NI parents
NORTHERN Ireland health chiefs are insisting plans to carry out postmortems on babies in England are temporary.
But they will pay for bereaved parents to travel to Liverpool while the examinations are carried out on an “interim basis”.
The Health and Social Care Board added Alder Hey Hospital, which will provide the service, “has agreed to work with us to ensure an expedited service to support traditional funeral times in Northern Ireland”.
Under the “new interim arrangement, the service will be completed within a maximum of 36 hours”.
It emerged yesterday postmortems on babies and children will no longer be available here in the New Year after efforts to recruit a new pathologist failed to find a candidate.
The HSCB said it “contacted all centres across the UK and the Republic that currently provide a perinatal and paediatric pathology service to explore the possibility of securing support to retain a local service in Northern Ireland” before deciding on Alder Hey. Public health specialist Heather Reid, speaking on behalf of the Health and Social Care Board and Public Health Agency, said: “We recognise the loss of a child is one of the most devastating events that can ever happen to a family.
“We fully accept the prospect of the postmortem being performed outside Northern Ireland may compound the distress experienced by families.
“While we will have to adapt our service, we want to assure parents they will continue to have the choice of whether or not to go ahead with a hospital postmortem.
“We also believe there are opportunities to provide postmortem findings more
YESTERDAY
quickly and enhance the support and information families receive.
“While it is acknowledged that a service outside of Northern Ireland is not what we would wish for, working closely with a much larger centre such as Alder Hey will provide a more robust service in the interim period.
“We are working closely with families, staff, charities and other partners to take every possible step to ensure that any baby or child who requires a postmortem is treated with the utmost respect, dignity and sensitivity throughout their journey now and in the future and that families will have our full support when facing these very traumatic circumstances.
Ulster Unionist MLA Doug Beattie, who lost his grandson Cameron at 18-months, said news child postmortems are moving to England “will only add to the hurt and heartache of those families that have lost a young loved one”.
He added: “This is truly disgraceful and the blame must be levelled at politicians who have not been in post to make strategic decisions and not at the Health and Social Care Board.
SDLP Health Spokesman Mark H Durkan MLA added: “The proposal families will need to send their beloved child away for a week to get these answers will mean more stress and suffering for families in their darkest hour. It may lead to parents opting out of the process altogether.
“I am seeking urgent clarification not only on how this completely unacceptable situation has arisen but also on what solutions have been explored.” IT is a tragedy for any family to lose a baby or young child.
Nothing can ever prepare you for it and even years after, their loss remains with you for every hour of every day.
I lost my son Jake when he was only two years and two days old in 2013.
Unfortunately I know from bitter experience how hard it is for parents to face delays for a postmortem – my husband and I were forced to wait an extra two days in order for a specialist to be found.
That delay only made a nightmare even more difficult for us so I’m furious the experience we were forced to go through will now be imposed upon so many more parents in Northern Ireland.
For the HSCB to even be looking at using technology such as an app, to allow parents to follow their child’s remains as they make the journey to England and back, demonstrates the sheer cruelty and inhumanity of what is being proposed.
There has been no accountable leadership in the local health service for almost two years. As a local councillor I am disgusted, I am angry and I feel ashamed this is even happening. This can’t be allowed to continue. We have no accountability in the department, we have no responsibility in this department.