Councillor keeps up opposition to heart unit move

Councillor Ian Saunders, who represents Sheffield on a region-wide health scrutiny committee will tell the city’s full council that the closure is “not just a Leeds issue”.

Yesterday he said: “This kind of life-saving surgery is not offered anywhere else in the area, not even here in Sheffield.

“If this unit closes the knock-on effect to some of our most sick and vulnerable children will be enormous.”

If the Leeds unit closes, children from Sheffield could be sent to Birmingham, Leicester or even Liverpool for treatment.