Woody miracle: Boy back from dead tackles run

The youngster, of Pudsey, Leeds, was only two weeks old when he joined hundreds of youngsters who each year have surgery at Leeds General Infirmary.

His parents believe he would have died if he had been forced to travel for treatment at alternative centres in Liverpool, Newcastle or the Midlands.

A decision on the fate of the Leeds unit will be made in July after the failure of a legal bid yesterday to block a public consultation on cutting the number of centres performing children’s heart surgery.

More than 600,000 people have signed a petition to keep surgery in Yorkshire. Campaigners are backing an option to retain services across the North.

Sharon Cheng, director of the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund in Leeds, said the charity had received assurances NHS officials would consider all new options amid concerns over journey times to other units which must carry out a minimum of 400 procedures each year.

“Maintaining the Leeds unit is the only way of ensuring a safe and sustainable settlement for the North of England given the issues we have previously put forward regarding patient travel assumptions and minimum operations expectations,” she said.

A Leeds Teaching Hospitals spokesman said it welcomed the commitment by NHS bosses to take on board new evidence from patients and the public.

“We remain convinced that the case for keeping children’s heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary is overwhelming.”