For the past year we have been working on plans to instigate our first service, the employment of a Down syndrome paediatric nurse who would be be on call to Dublin's four maternity hospitals and whose role would be to offer advice, support and information to parents of newly born children with Down syndrome while in hospital and later on at home. This would initially be offered as a pilot project with a view to 3/4 nurses offering this as a comprehensive countrywide service in time.

The nurse will act as a guide and a lifeline to new parents who naturally will have confused emotional responses on hearing the news of their child's diagnosis and many questions that will require explanations. They will need to know what to do next and who to turn to and armed with the support that the nurse will provide, we had hoped that this new appointment would begin around now, to offer invaluable support to parents through this challenging time.

The nurse was to be appointed to the National Children's Hospital under the direction of Prof Hoey and Joan Murphy and with their help and assistance, we have contacted the materntity hospitals, informing them of the proposed Down Syndrome Liaison Nurse pilot project and receiving their feedback.

 However, as a result of the HSE nursing ban, we have been unable to progress with the appointment, despite the fact that Down Syndrome Centre was to fund the post entirely. The HSE ban disallows recruitment of new or replacement of departing nurses in all public hospitals until further notice.

This places us in an incredibly frustrating position as we find ourselves having to shelve the project with no determined date in mind for a lifting of the ban. In the meantime we will continue to lobby the HSE and other parties to gain approval for the appointment of what we know will be a much welcomed and valued service.