Decision on juvenile ICU for Cork must be made by medical experts, says Varadkar

Vivienne Murphy died of invasive Strep A.

A decision on whether a paediatric intensive care and serious surgery unit should be developed in Cork will have to be made by medical experts, according to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

Mr Varadkar was responding to Fine Gael Cork North Central TD Colm Burke, who highlighted the death of 10-year-old Vivienne Murphy from Millstreet, in March 2019, after she was diagnosed with Strep A.

In asking about the possibility of locating an intensive care unit for children in Cork, he said: “The tragic death of Vivienne Murphy highlighted the need for a regional facility like this.” 

On Sunday, Vivienne’s parents Dermot and Lilly spoke on RTÉ Radio’s This Week about how their critically ill daughter had to be taken to hospital in Dublin because there was no intensive care unit for children in Cork.

On February 14, 2019, the Murphys took their daughter to an out-of-hours doctor with a high temperature and rash. She was diagnosed with a viral illness. This was subsequently agreed by two other GPs.

Five days later, she returned to an out-of-hours GP service with an “angry” rash and a swollen knee. She was lethargic and had been unable to produce urine samples.

That night, her parents took Vivienne to Cork University Hospital (CUH) from where she was later transferred to Temple Street.

'Tragic'

The Taoiseach said Vivienne Murphy’s story was heartbreaking, adding: “It is just tragic to think that perhaps if treatment had been given sooner, if an antibiotic had been given or prescribed sooner, that young Vivienne would never have ended up in hospital at all, never mind having the experiences that she endured.” 

Mr Varadkar said phase 1 of the paediatric department for Cork had already been built and commissioned, “providing a dedicated cystic fibrosis outpatient accommodation in CUH”.

He continued: “Phase 2 is currently being developed. I am told it is at detailed design stage and that involves high dependency beds and specialist haematology oncology beds to accommodate the needs of paediatric patients for the next 10 to 20 years.” 

But he said: “In relation to carrying out major surgery and ICU in Cork — that is a different matter and that is really going to be down to medical advice. At the moment, we have two national centres for major surgery and paediatric ICU in Ireland, in Temple Street and in Crumlin, and the current advice from the experts is to consolidate them in one centre, one national centre, which is the new Children’s Hospital, which will be opening next year.” 

He said whether regional centres would produce “better outcomes” was a matter for experts.

He cautioned: “We just need to bear in mind that spreading expertise, skills and resources more thinly does not always mean better outcomes for everyone.”