POST-MORTEM examinations of infants in Northern Ireland are to be moved to a hospital in England due to a lack of specialist staff.
Perinatal and paediatric pathology services are currently provided on a regional basis by the Belfast Trust but the single remaining consultant here is set to leave his post in February next year.
After this date, the bodies of infants requiring a post-mortem will be transported by air or sea to Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool.
The BBC reports around 240 hospital autopsies are carried out annually on children in the north.
Heather Reid, Public Health Specialist, speaking on behalf of the Health and Social Care Board and Public Health Agency said: “We recognise that the loss of a child is one of the most devastating events that can ever happen to a family and fully accept that the prospect of the post-mortem 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 that they will continue to have the choice of whether or not to go ahead with a hospital post-mortem. We also believe there are opportunities to provide post-mortem findings more 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.”
SDLP Health Spokesperson Mark H Durkan said he has written to the permanent decretary of the Department of Health seeking urgent answers on the planned removal of services.
"This situation cannot be described as unforeseen as pressures on this service have been highlighted before and there are serious questions to be answered as to how the department and board have allowed things to get to this point," he said.
"Post mortems provide vital information - particularly for families with other children whose health could potentially be at risk to an underlying genetic condition. This knowledge is also invaluable to healthcare professionals.
"The proposal that 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 well 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.
"If this service is lost now, will it ever be restored? Is there the possibility of an all-island solution?"
Ulster Unionist councillor Julie Flaherty, who lost her two-year-old son five years ago, said: “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 it, 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 post-mortem - 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 that the experience we were forced to go through will now be imposed upon so many more parents in Northern Ireland.
UUP MLA Doug Beattie said: “In 2016 I lost my 18 month old grandson Cameron in the most terrible and unexpected circumstances. We thank everyone for the care, dignity and decency they showed this lovely boy as he went through a rigorous post-mortem. It was done thoroughly and it was done quickly and although we have never found out the cause of his death we thank God that his mother and father were not made to suffer a protracted process before his burial.
“The news that child post-mortems are going to be undertaken in England instead of Northern Ireland will only add to the hurt and heartache of those families that have lost a young loved one. 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.
“It is shameful that this situation continues and although angry, I will avoid the political blame game but instead call for action not words.”
