THERE IS AN urgent need to increase capacity of intensive care beds for children, particularly in areas outside Dublin, according to Sinn Féín’s health spokesperson David Cullinane. 

It comes after the parents of a 10-year-old girl who died following a Strep A infection say they told RTÉ’S This Week programme their story in a bid to save other children. 

Vivienne Murphy from Mill Street in Cork, died on 1 March 2019, two weeks after she had complained about suffering from a sore throat.

Her parents Lilly and Dermot recalled that she was out of sorts on Valentine’s Day, and developed a rash and high temperature in the evening.

Her condition deteriorated rapidly after she started showing symptoms, but she was not immediately diagnosed with Strep A and later had to be transferred to Temple Street in Dublin because she could not be treated in Cork University Hospital (CUH).

Despite urging doctors to operate and were preparing for their daughter’s leg to be amputated to save her life in CUH, Vivienne’s parents were told this could not happen because CUH does not have a paediatric intensive-care unit which would have cared for her after the operation.

Vivienne’s mother said it does not make sense that a large hospital like CUH does not have such facilities.

Dublin City Coroner Dr Cróna Gallagher told This Week that she intends to write to the HSE, the Department of Health and the Irish College of General Practitioners to bring the case to their attention.

She said she will highlight the lack of a paediatric intensive care unit in CUH.

Speaking today, Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane told The Journal that “tragic stories like Vivienne’s must always cause us to reflect”.

Critical care services for children are highly constrained, he said.

“There were only three free intensive care beds for children yesterday. This shows the urgent need to develop more capacity. 

“The new National Children’s Hospital will provide much needed capacity, as will the paediatrics expansion at Cork University Hospital, but intensive care will still be concentrated in Dublin city.

“We need to review this approach and see if the health service can better respond to urgent circumstances in regional hubs. The difficulty might be keeping it fully and safely staffed, but that should be investigated,” he said.

‘Worst nightmare’

Sinn Féin TD for Cork South Central Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire described it as a “harrowing interview”, adding, “my thoughts are with the parents of Vivienne Murphy”.

“This is any parent’s worst nightmare and the lack of paediatric services, particularly in ICU and the absence of a helipad is unacceptable,” he said. 

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According to a report in The Irish Examiner last week, construction is set to start on the long-awaited helipad as well as the new pediatric care building on the CUH campus. 

The helipad should be completed by the end of 2023. The pediatric care building is due to provide centralised children’s services for Cork City and the south of Ireland. 

Ó Laoghaire said plans for expanding children’s services at CUH have been long announced but “we are still waiting for them to be developed and followed through”.

“The Government has no plan to deliver a paediatric intensive care service in Cork and this should be reviewed,” he added. 

“It has been announced that construction of the helipad should be completed by the end of this year, but it is unacceptable this hadn’t been in place long before now.

“It is vitally important that the HSE ensure these projects move forward and are delivered without delay, and the necessary resources put in place to ensure the highest quality care available to our children,” he said.