Health Minister celebrates 25 years of TinyLife

Edwin Poots was speaking as he attended the 25th anniversary celebrations for the TinyLife charity at Hillsborough Castle.

He said: “I very much appreciate the great work being done by the voluntary sector and in particular organisations such as TinyLife who give so much of their own time and energy into improving the chances of survival for premature and ill babies, as well as providing both practical and emotional support to the parents of these extremely vulnerable children.”

TinyLife was established 25 years ago as the Northern Ireland Mother and Baby Appeal to fund research into the reasons for the premature birth and death of babies in Northern Ireland.

Since then it has expanded its services to offer practical and emotional support to the parents of premature and sick babies through their Family Support Service.

Mr Poots added: “I am committed to improving services for pregnant women, their partners and newborns.

“It is to that end that I launched a new maternity strategy for Northern Ireland last year. The strategy outcomes fit very well with the aims of TinyLife, these include giving the baby, and its family the best start in life.

“I would like to congratulate TinyLife on 25 years of excellent service to babies and their parents and wish them many more years of good work ahead.”

TinyLife Chief Executive Deirdre Brady thanked the Minister for his comments.

She added: “The work of the charity could not exist without our volunteers, from family support to fundraising and administration. On behalf of all parents, I wish to extend my warmest gratitude to them.”