Little girls with bowel condition in limbo over hospital red tape

A little girl with a complex bowel condition was in limbo last night over red tape in England linked to Ireland’s treatment-abroad funding scheme.

Abbey Murphy, 7, from Ballyvolane in Cork, was due to fly to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital today for specialist tests as a private patient to determine her future medical treatment for a distressing condition which causes her to vomit faeces.

But following the intervention yesterday of her local TD, Jonathan O’Brien, and Health Minister Simon Harris, it has emerged that the world-renowned hospital cannot accept funding from the HSE’s treatment abroad scheme for private patients.