Fears for adult heart surgery if Leeds children’s unit shuts

For the first time, longstanding fears over the widespread impact of the latest national shake-up have been confirmed by plans revealed by NHS heads.

New draft standards for hospitals carrying out surgery for adults born with heart defects say operations should only be done in a centre which also carries out children’s procedures.

If the under-threat Leeds General Infirmary unit does shut, adult operations could therefore no longer take place in the city.

Councillors criticised the proposals and spoke of their fears other hospitals may not meet the new standards – which they say could leave the North of the country without any congenital heart surgery service.

Coun John Illingworth, chairman of Leeds City Council’s Health, Wellbeing and Adult Social Care Scrutiny Board, said it was a “nonsensical process”.

“The separation between adults and children is an artificial one,” he told a meeting.

“The new standards insist that hospitals dealing with adults deal with children, but strict interpretation of that rule could leave 
no centre in the North of England.”

He added that was an “unacceptable outcome” saying: “It’s obvious to a brain-dead pig that it’s not going to work.”

The Leeds children’s heart surgery unit was part of a national review designed to improve care which would see the number of hospitals offering the service cut.

But that shake-up has been beset by controversy and the Leeds ward is currently in limbo after NHS bosses decided it should close, prompting an outcry and a legal challenge.

Campaigners won their case, but last week the NHS announced it was seeking leave to appeal that decision.

A Government-ordered independent review of the reorganisation is also under way.

A similar national review of adult congenital heart surgery is taking place too but the process is at a much earlier stage.

The decision to run the two reviews separately has already come in for much criticism.

Last year top doctors warned that the same surgeons carried out the procedures, so if the children’s surgery had moved elsewhere, adults with similar conditions could not be treated.

In 2011, councillors looking into the children’s shake-up also recommended to national NHS heads the two processes were done together, though this did not happen.

Yesterday Coun Paul Truswell (Lab, Middleton Park) said: “The two issues are inextricably linked. They are mutually dependent.”

He said Coun Illingworth had described a “catastrophic effect” on services across the city and added: “We need to find all means at our disposal to drive that point home.”

Betty Smithson, patient representative on the board, warned that if Leeds lost both adult and children’s heart surgery services, top-quality doctors would be put off from working in the city.

Councillors agreed to express their fears in a response to a consultation over the draft standards and proposed model of care, which runs until May 10.

The newly-formed organisation NHS England has taken over responsibility for carrying out the review of adult congenital heart disease services.

A spokeswoman said after the meeting: “Consultation and engagement around the proposed model of care for adult congenital heart disease services is ongoing.

“Views from clinicians, patients and any other interested parties are fully welcomed and will be fed into the decision-making process to finalise the model.”