Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)

Anyone who was listening to Claire Byrne yesterday would have been struck by the very sad but uplifting story of Claire Colum from Strokestown in Roscommon. Ms Colum spoke about her daughter Kate, who was five years old when she died following a severe strep A infection on 31 March 2023. Kate had been admitted to Sligo University Hospital on the Wednesday of that week after she became very ill. Kate had Down's syndrome. She was a very robust little girl and it was unusual for her to be ill. Kate's parents knew something was wrong when they brought her to the hospital and placed their trust in the diagnosis by the medical staff that she had a nasty virus. She met all the criteria for a diagnosis of sepsis and should have been treated accordingly on the Wednesday. However, the opportunity was missed. She was monitored as if she was suffering with a virus that would pass and was discharged from the hospital on the Thursday morning. She was readmitted early on the Friday morning, having been transported to the hospital by ambulance.Although the medical staff in Sligo University Hospital made a tremendous effort to save Kate's life, it was too late. Last week, an inquest ruled that her death occurred as a result of medical misadventure. The Coroner's Court found that the seriousness of her condition was missed when she was first admitted to hospital.

I am raising this today after listening to the strength and positivity of Kate's mother, Claire, as I have raised in the Seanad before. One factor in this may be the way in which children with Down's syndrome or who are neurodivergent can present to doctors and health professionals when they are ill. They may react differently in a hospital environment or not demonstrate the same signs as other children who are seriously ill. Having different methods of triaging patients with additional needs is something that I have raised previously. Equality does not mean treating everyone identically. It means taking differences into to account to ensure an equal outcome. Kate's parents, Claire and Matthew, have talked about how her passing would not define their life. They remember Kate as being a fun-loving child who loved playschool, farming, chocolate buttons and jigsaws. They have very generously turned their grief into action and have agreed to help the HSE to better train staff in assessing the needs of children with Down's syndrome or who are neurodivergent. The training programme in Cork used the letters of Kate's name: K for kind, A for alert, T for time and E for experts.

I wanted to raise this because, like anyone who was listening to the show, I was touched by Kate's mother and the way she spoke about her daughter. I want to express my condolences to Claire and Matthew, and her brothers Matthew and Daniel, and the other members of her family. The loss of a child is a loss that no parent should endure. I hope their generosity of support will be enthusiastically taken up by the HSE.