A RECENT assembly vote has approved Sinn Féin’s motion calling for all-island collaboration on paediatric pathology services.
MP Pat Cullen has described the move as a crucial step toward ending a distressing situation for bereaved families in the North.
In recent years, post-mortem examinations on infants and children in the North have had to be carried out in England, due to a shortage of specialist paediatric pathologists locally.
The paediatric pathology service, previously provided through regional health services, lost its last permanent consultant in early 2019.
Since then, sensitive examinations have been transferred, typically to Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool, under interim emergency arrangements.
The practice has sparked ongoing concern from families and advocacy groups, who have described the added distress of having to send a child’s body out of the jurisdiction for examination at a time of profound grief.
Following the vote, Ms Cullen welcomed the motion, she said, “For far too long, families in the North have been subjected to additional heartbreak at the most devastating time of their lives.
“Having to send their baby away for a post-mortem examination is deeply distressing and entirely unacceptable.
“Every child deserves to be treated with care in death as well as in life, and every family deserves support that minimises further pain.”
Ms Cullen said that all-island collaboration offers a practical and humane solution, allowing families to access appropriate paediatric pathology services closer to home.
“This motion sends a clear message that the current situation cannot continue. Sinn Féin will continue to press for a paediatric pathology service here in the North and we are calling on the Health Minister to work with his counterpart in the South, so that families are no longer left to suffer unnecessary additional trauma,” she added.
She stressed that the focus must now be on delivery, “Words are not enough. Families deserve action, and they deserve it without delay.”
