by Gráinne Connolly
A family from Newry has praised the Daisy Hill Hospital's paediatric team's innovative screening programme, following the detection of a major heart condition in their new born baby girl.
After a very normal pregnancy and delivery on April 25th, Katie Dinsmore and her partner Alan were getting ready to take baby Dáire home when a final routine screening test showed she actually had a very serious heart condition called Transposition of the Great Arteries.
Daisy Hill is the only hospital in Northern Ireland to use the new born screening test known as Pulse Oximetry.
Katie told Q Radio she was completely shocked by the news, which resulted in Dáire being taken to Dublin for Keyhole surgery in the same day, followed by open heart surgery the next day:
Katie also said she's extremely grateful to the paediatric team who helped Dáire and that she hopes other hospitals will introduce this screening programme:
Iwryn McKibbin, Chairman of Heartbeat NI which funded the screening equipment says:
"While CHD may only be detected in one or two babies each year through screening, the difference from screening can be life changing for that small number of families.
"Without such a proactive approach by the paediatric team, the outcome for baby Dáire could have been very different.
“I would appeal to all hospitals to make pulse oximetry testing as a mandatory check on newborns.
"It is vitally important that babies with a heart defect are diagnosed as soon as possible and treated as a matter of urgency.
"I would like to congratulate the staff at Daisy Hill for not only undertaking what was initially a pilot study, but for persisting with it once the trial period expired.
"I am delighted for Katie and Alan that Dáire is doing so well and that Heartbeat NI played a small part in this good news story.”
The Southern Trust is now exploring the potential of introducing the test to Craigavon Area Hospital also.
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