Debate contribution: Paediatric Pathology Services

Debate contribution by Mr Danny Donnelly on 13 January 2026.

MLA

Mr Danny Donnelly

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

13 January 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Paediatric Pathology Services

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5316321

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Since early 2019, paediatric pathology services in Northern Ireland have effectively ceased. Instead of those essential examinations being carried out locally, hundreds of families have had to send their babies to Liverpool for post-mortem examinations, with the figure being, I think, 1,105 infants and children since 2019. That arrangement was put in place as a temporary measure. The HSC website states:

"Post-mortem examinations are currently being carried out on an interim basis at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in Liverpool."

At what point does it stop being an interim measure? Can we really describe seven years of practice as an interim measure? The HSC website also states:

"significant efforts were made to retain a service within Northern Ireland – including repeated recruitment drives both nationally and internationally."

When reading a news report, from just two days before Christmas, stating that active recruitment for a paediatric pathologist in the Belfast Trust did not begin until two years after the post became vacant and that senior staff believed that advertising started a year and a half earlier than it did, it is hard to believe that the efforts have been significant enough. That leaves a profound and unsettling sense of hopelessness about the state of our health service and the systems that are meant to govern it. I can only imagine that a parent who has lost a child needs every accommodation and comfort that they can possibly get. They need support from the system and do not need the additional burden of having to navigate the logistical complexities of the situation as it stands. Dr Bernie Croal, president of the Royal College of Pathologists, has emphasised the fact that paediatric pathology services are absent in entire regions, with no consultants in post in Northern Ireland, the south-west of England or the Midlands. The outlook is further complicated by the age profile of the existing workforce, which was mentioned by the previous Member to speak. More than one fifth of consultant paediatric and perinatal pathologists are expected to retire in the next five years, and that pressure is not being offset by new entrants. Training numbers remain too low, which means that there will not be enough doctors to replace those who retire, let alone to fill the posts that have been vacant for years. Long-standing vacancies already sit at around 40%, which leaves the service fragile and families exposed to the consequences. No one denies the challenges that the services face. The reality makes the absence of a local service more understandable, but it does not justify endemic delay. Although there has been some action from the Department through ongoing discussions to explore the options for an all-Ireland network model to provide the service, discussions alone are not enough to give timely answers to bereaved families, and discussions alone will not urgently stabilise or strengthen paediatric or perinatal pathology services. The HSC website refers to the feasibility of an all-Ireland approach and to the fact that it is deliverable only in the long term: but how long is "long term"? I know that the Minister has no issue in looking at all-Ireland services, especially with regard to such a sensitive issue. I often fear that the narrative that "change cannot happen overnight" is a way of avoiding responsibility for implementing any actions. Why not start now, so that we are not in the same position in another seven years, hearing the same excuses, while families face the same burdens in the midst of their unimaginable suffering? Calling for a comprehensive implementation plan is easier said than done, but we cannot continue with the cycle of bottom-line budgets without considering efficiencies. If we do that, not only will we still be here in another seven years but we will likely be worse off. I urge the Minister to seriously consider the consequences of looking only at cutting the numbers, without considering the human cost. I urge him to at least make a start now.

663 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 14:18 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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