A health trust has been criticised for not allowing a teenager with the mental age of four to be cared for on a children's ward ahead of a major medical procedure.
The parents of 18-year-old Regan Kelly said they had been given a written assurance that their daughter would be accommodated on the ward at Coleraine's Causeway Hospital where she spent periods of time over many years.
The Northern Health Trust has apologised to Regan and her family "for the distress, anxiety, and frustration caused by their experience".
The Kellys, from Ballymoney in County Antrim, have called into question the criteria used for deciding where a patient like their daughter is cared for.
The Department of Health (DoH) said while the policy for child services in Northern Ireland was for those aged 0-18 years, cases should be judged on individual circumstances.
Regan, who has a learning disability, epilepsy and autism, was due to have stoma surgery at the Causeway Hospital last month.
Her parents, Karen and Anthony, received a letter confirming that she would be accommodated in the hospital's children's ward.
They said this was important because Regan is susceptible to serious infections, which the Kellys believe are more prevalent in an adult ward.
"Regan's main concern is her urinary tract infections (UTIs) because they are debilitating, leave her drained, leave her extremely fatigued and cause double the seizures," Mrs Kelly said
"Her quality of life is very poor when she has a UTI and the fact that it takes so long to get them treated.
"She was put forward to go for a stoma, a bowel stoma, and we are hoping this will cure the UTIs, but nobody can guarantee that this will cure it.
"This is an option, but we're getting to the stage where we're having to get big, more powerful antibiotics for Regan."
The family said that when they arrived at Causeway Hospital for last month's scheduled surgery they were told Regan would not be accommodated in the children's ward.
This was despite being assured by several medical staff that they had no issue with it, according to Mr Kelly, who described the move as "devastating".
Mrs Kelly described what happened as "distressing and heart-breaking".
"Parents don't matter in Northern Ireland. We're not the first parents to be in this situation and we won't be the last," she said.
"We shouldn't have to sit here in 2026 and go through this, and for your daughter to be put out the way she was.
"She doesn't deserve this. She deserves better - a lot better than the NHS has given her."
The Kellys were subsequently sent a rescheduled surgery date for this week, which stated Regan would be on the adult surgical ward, and not in the children's ward.
That has now been deferred "to allow further discussion with the family as to how the situation can be resolved and a plan for surgery agreed", the trust said.
The family said their overriding concern was to prevent Regan contracting further infections.
"I would like somebody to step up and give us the reassurance that, as parents, we need to know that Regan is going into a safe, clean environment, that she is going to be comfortable in her surroundings... all we have ever asked for was to get these UTIs under control and we have been fighting so hard for this," Mrs Kelly said.
"We've been doing this for so long, for so many years to try to get this all done before we hit this barrier... when someone is transitioning from children to adult (services), it is absolutely horrendous."
The Kellys said they were aware of adult children up to the age of 24 who had been accommodated on the children's ward while spending time at the Causeway Hospital.
What has the trust and Department of Health said?
The Northern Health Trust said staff had made efforts to implement alternative arrangements on the day of Regan's planned surgery, but these did not meet the family's needs.
"The Kelly family should have received clear, consistent, and timely information from the outset and we regret that this did not happen... we remain committed to providing Regan with safe, compassionate, person-centred care".
The trust said while there was no specific regional or trust policy that stipulates an age restriction for admission to a children's ward, "established practice is that children are generally cared for within acute paediatric services up to their 16th birthday".
It added that given the nature of the surgery, a "surgical ward which is staffed by experienced surgical nurses" was considered the safest environment for Regan's post-operative care.
The DoH said it acknowledged that for the Kellys this will be an "extremely difficult time for the young person and their parents".
"While there is a general policy position that paediatric hospital services are for 0-18 years, clinicians take a person-centred approach when making decisions on care a patient will receive," the department said.