Ministers facing backlash over child heart unit

MINISTERS were yesterday warned they face a barrage of opposition in Yorkshire over the “devastating” decision to axe children’s heart surgery in the region.

Council chiefs announced they will meet next week to formally refer to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley the ruling by NHS chiefs which will see the heart surgery unit for youngsters at Leeds General Infirmary close by 2014.

The decision will mean more than 200 children a year from the bulk of the region will travel for more than three hours in some cases to Newcastle for treatment, while dozens more from Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax will be expected to journey to Liverpool.

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Furious MPs denounced the move in the Commons as one after another stood up to object at routine business questions, demanding Mr Lansley be called to face them.

Last night Labour called on Mr Lansley for an urgent statement.

Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham said he backed the review’s aims but had serious concerns about the seven sites chosen which left a huge swathe of eastern England from Newcastle to London without a regional service.

He said: “It is simply not acceptable for Health Ministers to go into hiding when major, life-changing decisions are being made affecting hundreds of thousands of people and the future of children’s health services. We urgently need to know whether the Government supports this selection and, if so, why.”

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Campaigners from the Leeds-based Children’s Heart Surgery Fund charity called on NHS chiefs to keep both Leeds and Newcastle open for surgery and give both centres time to implement new standards recommended by the review.

Its director, Sharon Cheng, said: “The legal rights of parents to choose where they want to receive care were blatantly disregarded by decision makers.

“Parents have already told us they will not travel to Newcastle to access services and decision makers failed to understand that access to these services is a key quality issue for families.

“We are urging parents to write to their local MPs and to Andrew Lansley’s office directly to express their dismay at the decision and urge him to take action.”

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In a joint statement, the leaders of all five political parties on Leeds City Council, said they would immediately refer the decision to Mr Lansley.

They said: “This is a devastating blow to families who will be faced with additional, unnecessary stress at a time when their sole concern is the well being of their children.

“Without a gold standard specialist heart service for children in Leeds too many people will be disadvantaged. We cannot allow the lives and health of these children and families to be determined by this flawed decision.”

In the Commons, Leader of the House Sir George Young was confronted by a series of furious questions from 11 Yorkshire MPs.

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Huddersfield MP Labour’s Barry Sheerman said: “There has been a vigorous campaign — the hardest fought that I have ever known in this House — and we have been ignored. Yorkshire has been downgraded in terms of this very important service for children.”

Jason McCartney, Tory MP for Colne Valley, said he was “appalled” at the move. “Patient flows and parent journeys have not been given due consideration in the decision,” he said.

Sir George said he would examine if a debate on the issue could be held.

He added: “Of course I understand the concern of Yorkshire members at the outcome of the independent review, which was established by the previous Government at arm’s length from Ministers and has now reported.

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“The key motivation was to drive up outcomes for children who suffer from congenital heart disease. There was powerful evidence that the more operations a surgeon performs, the better the performance, which improves the outcome for children.”