Wexford TD James Browne has called on the Government to urgently address the absence of paediatric palliative care in Wexford. Deputy Browne made the call following queries he made concerning the absence of palliative care in the weeks prior to the tragic death of sixteen-year old Wexford boy, Tyler Murphy.

Tyler’s family believed that they would receive palliative care support. However, both Crumlin Children’s Hospital and University Hospital Waterford did not provide the care when it was required shortly before Tyler passed away.

“I send my deepest sympathies to the Murphy family. Tyler and the Murphy family endured a heart-breaking time during Tyler’s last days. They had to beg for some form of palliative care support to cater for Tyler’s wish to return home, which made the family’s experience even more distressing.

“Crumlin Children’s Hospital has since told me that their specialist palliative care team couldn’t support the family as palliative care in the community must come from the community healthcare organisation. However, it has been confirmed to me that there is no child palliative care team in the south-east.

“It is totally unacceptable that a terminally ill child and his family must be subject to this ordeal. I raised this matter in the Dáil with the Tánaiste and I was disappointed with the response provided. I intend to continue to pursue this matter with the Government and the HSE”, Deputy Browne concluded

Addressing the Dail, Deputy James Browne (Fianna Fail) pointed out that in the programme for Government there is a commitment to ensuring appropriate care pathways are in place to improve cancer services and invest in end-of-life care. “In County Wexford, sick children cannot access specialist palliative childcare teams when needed. Approximately eight weeks ago, a 16 year old child in Enniscorthy died from cancer. He was in hospital and wanted to go home for his last few days, but there was a row between two different hospitals and two different clinical teams because there was no specialist team in place to take care of him. I am not blaming the clinicians: it is a lack of specialist childcare palliative teams in the south east. When can such a specialist team be put in place in this very large area with a population of 0.5 million people?”

In reply, Tanaiste Simon Coveney (Fine Gael) described Deputy Browne’s question as “a serious issue” and stated he would ask the Minister for Health to reply to the Deputy directly.