Queen's funeral: Dismay at cancellation of toddler's hospital appointment
- Published
Ivy McKenna's mum says she is "frustrated" by the decision to postpone hospital appointments
A County Down woman has spoken of her frustration that a hospital appointment for her toddler has been cancelled on the day of the Queen's funeral.
Marley McKenna's two-year-old daughter has been hospitalised with respiratory issues four times in the last year.
Monday's appointment at the Ulster Hospital would have been her first time seeing a consultant.
The South Eastern Trust said that priority is being given to "patients with the greatest clinical need".
Ms McKenna understands the desire for a bank holiday on Monday but said the disruption to hospital services was unnecessary.
"I understand that she was our head of state, but there are services still needed. Healthcare should be available 24-7, things still need to run.
"This is different from other public sectors," she added.
Ms McKenna's daughter, Ivy, who was born during lockdown, first developed breathing difficulties in April of last year.
Emergency Departments in the UK were overwhelmed by children with respiratory infections last year, most of them were under the age of five.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said after disappearing in the 2020 lockdown when no-one was mixing in large numbers, viruses reappeared last summer, putting huge pressure on emergency departments in hospitals.
Ivy has not yet received a diagnosis but has required oxygen each time she was admitted "as she wasn't getting enough on her own", explained Ms McKenna.
Her daughter's shortest hospital stay was for two nights, the longest was six nights.
Since then Ivy has been using inhalers, two puffs in the morning and two in the evening, and her mother is worried she may "be giving her medicine she doesn't actually need".
Routinely, doctors do not diagnose a child as young as Ivy as their lungs are still in the developmental stage.
Monday's scheduled consultation was agreed in July and was "hopefully the start of the process" in getting to the root of Ivy's health issues, her mother said.
The Ulster Hospital had rung to confirm the appointment on Tuesday, but a day later they cancelled it.
Ms McKenna said she was left "disappointed and frustrated" by how South Eastern Trust had handled the cancellation.
The Trust say they are operating "enhanced bank holiday services"
A spokesperson for the trust said the late notice could be attributed to delayed responses from schools and other services with healthcare workers now struggling to find appropriate childcare. Other members of their staff wish to mourn the Queen, they said.
In a statement they said they will be operating "enhanced bank holiday services in order to reduce the impact on patients and service users as much as possible".
The trust added that priority will be "given to patients with the greatest clinical need" and that postponed appointments will be rescheduled "as soon as possible."
Ms McKenna said: "We were hoping to see [Ivy] put on the most appropriate path. It's so disheartening, you're fighting to get [an appointment] in the first place."
Since sharing her story on social media, something which she has never done before, Ms McKenna said that she has been "overwhelmed" by support and stories of similar cases.
Whilst the McKenna's have been offered a new appointment in several weeks time, others she says, haven't received confirmation yet.
"I don't think it's something that's ok, it needs to be addressed," she added.
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