A woman whose baby was sent to England from Northern Ireland for a post-mortem examination has said it is “unnatural” and will “haunt” her forever.

There is currently no specialist paediatric pathologist in Northern Ireland.

BBC News NI has learned that interim arrangements with Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, which began in 2019, have now been extended until March 2027.

The body of Victoria and Kyle Buckley’s baby Ollie was one of 1,105 infants and children sent to the paediatric pathology service in Liverpool from Northern Ireland since 2019.

Ollie died at 37 weeks and was delivered at Antrim Area Hospital in May 2024.

Speaking to BBC News NI, Victoria said her son was the third baby “born sleeping that week” in the unit, and because of what was described by a midwife as a “backlog”, it was several days before his body was taken by undertakers to Alder Hey.

The Northern Trust apologised for any hurt caused “by poor choice of language in these exceptionally difficult circumstances”.

“Sadly in this particular set of circumstances, there was more than one family who had experienced the loss of their baby and who needed our support,” a spokesperson said.

“We will continue to keep the need for the bereavement suite under review to inform any future service planning.”

A post-mortem examination can be carried out in the case of a miscarriage, stillbirth, or death of a baby or a child.

In 2019, an interim service was set up by the Department of Health for the post-mortem examinations to take place in Liverpool after a local paediatric pathologist could not be appointed.

Mrs Buckley said it was “horrendous” and “heartbreaking” having to say “goodbye” twice to her baby, including the first time when the midwives told her there is no heartbeat and later when the undertakers arrived to take the body to Liverpool.

The Department of Health said while the health minister made access to Alder Hey a priority, he was “committed to finding a better resolution to the issue”.

Mrs Buckley said a hospital porter arrived at the bereavement suite and left a bag with a white metal box inside, where they were asked to place Ollie.

“It will haunt me forever,” she said.

“Just this innocent little baby lying there. I had put him into a cold metal box to go to Liverpool, and I wasn’t sure when I was going to see him again.

“There is no timeline; you have to agree to that, and you just don’t know when you’re getting your baby back.”

The Belfast Trust makes arrangements for the post-mortem examinations on behalf of all NI health trusts, including travel to Alder Hey.

It told BBC News NI it supported those parents or family members who wished to travel with their baby or child to Liverpool.

The trust said this was rarely taken up and fewer than five families had travelled since the arrangement with Alder Hey was initiated in January 2019.

However, the Buckleys and other parents have told the BBC they were not given the option of travelling with their deceased baby.

Laura and Andrew Magee found their daughter Poppy did not have a heartbeat at their 20-week hospital scan in August 2020.

“We went hoping to be told the gender but instead were told our baby had no heartbeat – it was devastating,” said Mrs Magee.

The couple said they were asked to make several decisions that day, including whether they wanted a post-mortem examination and if they agreed to the body being sent to Liverpool.

Mrs Magee said expecting a couple to agree to this was “cruel and heart-wrenching”.

“It made the grieving process longer and made my recovery longer,” she said.

“I did suffer with depression and anxiety, and I had nightmares about her body, what they would do with her – it just added to everything.”

Mrs Buckley and Mrs Magee belong to a WhatsApp group called StrongMumsNI, which has 67 members.

They want to know why the bodies of deceased babies continue to be sent by boat to Liverpool and question why an all-island service is not feasible.

They said they had no faith in the health service and described it as “broken”.

They also said they were not provided with regular updates about the whereabouts of their babies, or even if they had been returned to Northern Ireland.

Mrs Buckley said she was not initially told how Ollie would be travelling to Liverpool and for a while she feared he might be “thrown in with all the other luggage” on the plane.

Later she learned he had been taken by boat and that undertakers had accompanied him.

“That was one of the worst bits for me, because you don’t know where he is,” she said.

“It is the most unnatural thing. You have just given birth, and you don’t know where your baby is.”

The Department of Health in Northern Ireland said Health Minister Mike Nesbitt “believes the grief and trauma experienced by families locally is being exacerbated by the requirement for them to travel to England for post-mortem examinations, often leaving behind critical support networks at an extremely difficult time”.

The department said “a number of conversations had taken place” on the feasibility of an all-Ireland service “but progress remained at the very early stages of development and consideration”.

The Department of Health in the Republic of Ireland said while delays to postmortem examinations were “not an issue”, the service was dependent on a “very small number of staff”, and there are “challenges recruiting into consultant posts”.

The department said specialist postmortem examinations were not always required, but where they were this is mostly carried out in Dublin with some regional services in Cork and Galway.

BBC News NI first reported there was a workforce problem in 2018 when the remaining consultant left.

A spokesperson for the Royal College of Pathologists said there is a worldwide shortage of pathologists and in particular, paediatric pathologists.

Prof Marta Cohen told BBC News NI an all-Ireland service was not a solution.

“I believe this is the case – Ireland cannot help because of its own shortage issues,” she said.

If you or someone you know has been affected by the issues raised in this story, contact BBC Action Line, where these organisations may be able to help.