Parents of Vivienne Murphy demand juvenile ICU for Cork as family share tragic story

Vivienne Murphy's parents Dermot and Lilly are concerned about the lack of ICU facilities for children outside of Dublin

Vivienne Murphy, from Millstreet in north Cork, died on March 1, 2019 in Temple Street hospital in Dublin.

Calls are being made for paediatric intensive care facilities for Cork after the parents of a girl who died following a Strep A infection highlighted how their daughter had to be taken to Dublin for treatment when critically ill.

Vivienne Murphy, from Millstreet in north Cork, died on March 1, 2019 in Temple Street hospital in Dublin.

Her parents Dermot and Lilly are concerned about the lack of ICU facilities for children outside of the capital.

"Cork (University Hospital) is a big hospital, and we don't have any intensive care facilities for children, it doesn't make sense," said Ms Murphy in an interview with RTÉ’s This Week programme. The Murphys are calling for a helipad at CUH so that other critically ill patients could be transported to the care they need more quickly.

Ms Murphy said the transfer of their daughter took "hours" because an ambulance had to be sent to Cork from Dublin with specialists and machines on board to care for Vivienne during the transfer.

“Lessons must be learned in relation to the identification and treatment of Strep A and for serious consideration to be given to the fact that there is no paediatric ICU outside of Dublin," the couple told the Irish Examiner, through their solicitor, Rachael O’Shaughnessy, after visiting their daughter’s grave on Sunday.

Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central, Colm Burke, said the Murphys' case proves action is required on developing a dedicated unit for children in Cork.

He said: “We have planning permission for it. We now need to get the funding and get on with it. But it should also incorporate an intensive care unit that can take care of very seriously ill children who can be cared for in a timely manner without having to be transported at a crucial time.” 

Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central, Colm Burke, said the Murphys' case proves action is required on developing a dedicated unit for children in Cork. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

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.

Subsequently, two other doctors, including their GP, agreed with the viral infection diagnosis. Five days later, she returned to an out-of-hours GP service with a rash which was "really angry looking", 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) where her mother noticed "a little black mark on her right leg" for the first time during her illness. The Murphys were told that their daughter was “critically ill” when the results of blood tests came through.

The black mark, which was increasing in size, indicated that Vivienne had Strep A which had led to sepsis, shock and then necrotising fasciitis, also known as the flesh-eating disease.

The Murphys were told Vivienne would need surgery at Temple Street as there was no Paediatric Critical Care Unit at CUH.

She went into cardiac arrest a day after surgery during which 17% of her body was “cut away” in an attempt to save her life.

Mr Murphy told the programme: "There was an alert put out for us to come quickly to her bedside.

"We ran into the room. There were six or seven nurses, doctors, professors there. The head professor was in there and they were trying to bring her back. He was really going hard to save Vivienne.

"At one stage he turned to Lilly and me, and said: 'Parents scream at your daughter, call her back! Call her back! Bring her back!'"

"And we started screaming, please come back to us, please come back to us, and it went back a long time, and he said 'call her - she will know your voice'."

The doctors resuscitated Vivienne but an MRI scan revealed she was brain dead and that "there was no hope".

Since October 2022, six children have died after developing Strep A. 153 cases have been notified in the first quarter of this year, compared with an average of 38 cases annually between 2017 and 2019.

Most infections result in mild symptoms.

In a statement, the Health Service Executive said it could not comment on individual cases. But it said: “Children requiring paediatric intensive care are transported via the established Irish Paediatric Acute Transport Service (IPATS) within the Republic of Ireland. IPATS supports the transfer of critically ill infants and children (aged 4 weeks to 16 years) from a referring hospital to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin or Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. This service comprises of an EMT, an ICU nurse, a junior doctor and consultant and operates 7 days a week from 8am to 8pm and plans are being put in place to have this service available 24hrs a day.” 

It added that the mode of transport is decided through discussions with consultants in the dispatching and receiving hospitals.