Children's Hospice: 'We don't want our children to die in hospital'
The father of children who receive respite care at the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice has said his family would be "lost" without it.
Matthew Rooney said the care offered by the hospice was second to none.
The hospice is to reduce its bed capacity due to a loss of government funding.
It is a local charity that provides specialist palliative care for more than 350 babies, children, and their families each year.
Mr Rooney said the service was vital to hundreds of families around the country and the money had to be found to keep it going.
"A lot of families I have spoken to have made plans for end-of-life care for their children," he said.
"They plan to have their children spend their last days here.
"We don't want our children to end up dying in a hospital."
The organisation's acting director Grace Stewart said she profoundly regretted having to implement any reduction in capacity.
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