Delight as 100,000 add names to petition

Campaigners say they are delighted by the huge response only a month after the petition was launched following a national review into children’s heart surgery, which has put the future of services in Leeds in severe doubt.

Sharon Cheng, of the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund charity, said: “The fact that 100,000 people have already signed the petition shows the strength of feeling across the region.

“But we need many more people to sign the petition and show their support for this vital part of our health service provision.

“If it does close, families will be forced to take their children hundreds of miles for surgery and in emergency situations that are bound to put children’s lives at risk.”

Review officials say people in Yorkshire are being “misled” by claims that children could die if they travel for care at alternative hospitals including Newcastle.

But yesterday consultant surgeon Kevin Watterson said he retained particular concerns over risks to patients facing travelling furthest from East Yorkshire for care under the review.

“My concern comes from a vast experience formed over many years of treating babies, children and families with heart conditions from the whole of Yorkshire,” he said.

Mr Watterson added that the Leeds centre served a significantly bigger population and had a full range of services under one roof, while the Newcastle unit would not attract the minimum number of cases required under the review because most patients from Yorkshire would choose to go elsewhere.

In a statement, Leeds hospital bosses reiterated that they had never been offered the chance to correct “factual inaccuracies” in the review and that “serious” factual errors remained in consultation documents.

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