WEST Belfast organ donation campaigner Dáithí Mac Gabhann has called for vital funding to be restored to the Children's Hospice.
On Tuesday, it was revealed the hospice in North Belfast will have to reduce its bed capacity due to a loss of funding. This would mean running six beds from Monday to Friday and three beds from Saturday and Sunday – a change from their seven-beds, seven-nights model.
The Hospice provides specialist palliative care for more than 350 children and their families each year.
In a video posted on X, formerly Twitter, Ballymurphy youngster Dáithí praised the nurses and doctors at the hospice and said he enjoyed "making new friends" there.
‼️STATEMENT FROM DÁITHÍ‼️
Dáithí has a message for our politicians about the @nichildrenshosp losing government funding & his love for his friends, nurses and doctors at the hospice. #SaveOurHospice #SupportKidsHospice #RestoreHospiceFunding #StandByOurChildren pic.twitter.com/jmmUqEWI8x— Donate4Dáithí (@Donate4Daithi) February 6, 2024
Dáithí said he "loved" the hospice and called for lost funding to be restored "now".
Dáithí's father Máirtín Mac Gabhann has written to MLAs stating that he was "utterly heartbroken" at the news.
"As a parent whose son relies on the invaluable support provided by this remarkable institution, I cannot overstate the importance of its services to my family and countless others like mine," he wrote. "The level of care and support they offer to children and their families annually is nothing short of extraordinary.
"Now is the time for decisive action to safeguard the future of the NI Children's Hospice and ensure that no family is left without the care and support they so desperately need."
