Hundreds of teens with heart defects at risk at Mater due to lack of funding

"We are now at crisis point."

Up to 400 teenage and young adult lives are at risk every year because of a lack of funding for the Mater Hospital, a children's health charity has warned. A €3.5 million shortfall in funding means many young people with congenital heart defects (CHD) who are transitioning between paediatric and adult care are falling through the cracks, according to Heart Children Ireland. Children with CHDs in Ireland are treated at Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin but once they reach the age of 16 their care is transferred to the Adult Congenital Unit at Dublin's Mater Hospital. Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defects, affecting one in every one hundred children born. Around 400 children make this transition each year but this influx has put a strain on the unit at the Mater. [caption id="attachment_278893" align="alignnone" width="1658"] Our Lady's Children's Hospital Crumlin.[/caption]   "There is now strong evidence that adults born with heart disease who don’t have access to specialist follow-up care are more likely to die," said Professor Damien Kenny, Congenital Cardiologist at the Mater Hospital. "Due to the lack of support services at the Mater Hospital we are now at a point where this is a reality. "These are some of the bravest people imaginable and having come through so much adversity as children, it is tragic that we can’t support them as adults." The team at the Adult Congenital Unit is "exceptional", added Margaret Rogers, CEO of Heart Children Ireland, but they're now too stretched to meet patients' needs. "We are now at crisis point where many critical patients are not able to gain access to vital medical care," she said. "We are calling on the government to help urgently or lives will be lost."