Leeds children heart surgeon and unit under investigation by hospital

The whole unit, one of the biggest in the North of England, has been part of an independent review after staff raised concerns about an increased death rate of children after having surgery, papers from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust have shown.

Staff wrote a letter outlining their concerns to the Trust’s chief executive in November 2023, prompting the independent review being commissioned, led by two surgeons from Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.

Among their worries were “an increased paediatric cardiac surgical mortality rate, concern about an individual clinician’s performance, waiting lists, patient flow, and team dynamics within the multi-disciplinary team,” according to hospital papers.

A separate investigation looked at seven cases of children’s heart surgery performed by the surgeon in question. In two cases, the children have since died.

Of the cases under review, the investigation found that in three cases, the surgeon performed well, but in two cases “the surgeon’s familiarity with the procedure was called into question, particularly in highly complex surgery in very small children.”

Questions were also raised about the surgeon’s documentation, and a further case is now being investigated.

The surgeon has since had their practice “restricted,” although hospital bosses said it has not affected waiting lists.

The investigation into the unit found surgery outcomes since April 2023 have shown “a worrying and significant deterioration with risk adjusted mortality rate running around three times the national average.”

During the same time, the number of surgeries where serious complications took place has also risen.

And the number of beds available on the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) has dropped, meaning some surgeries have been cancelled on the day due to no availability.

In addition, the senior surgeon on the cardiac unit is due to retire but no successor has yet been appointed.

The review read: “Leeds is facing a pivotal moment in its congenital cardiac surgical programme. A failure of succession planning with the retirement of its senior surgeon would have national consequences through directly impacting on adjacent surgical centres.

“No senior surgeon would presently wish to come to Leeds due to the capacity issues on the PICU. It is therefore imperative that the board prioritises PICU nurse recruitment to enable the existing PICU bed base (18 beds) to be fully operationalised in the next 12 months.”

Dr Magnus Harrison, Chief Medical Officer for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “As soon as we were aware of these concerns, we took swift action and commissioned independent experts to undertake a review of the service and provide us with recommendations for how we can improve.

“I am deeply sorry that in four children’s cases, the findings indicate that there were elements of care that could have been improved and I apologise that we did not meet the highest standard of care that we strive for.

“The reviewer did not conclude in his report that the issues identified had an impact on the overall outcome for each child.”