Let public see facts on heart unit decision

IN reference to the Leeds heart unit closure being referred to Health Secretary (Yorkshire Post, July 25), what is all this waffling on about whether or not the unit should or should not be closed? It has been made clear (and accepted) that there is not sufficient money to equip all the existing units with the very best equipment for children’s heart surgery.

Notwithstanding that fact, the only question that needs a satisfactory answer is what criteria – when there are four times as many people live within a two hour drive of the Leeds unit as the Newcastle one – was used in the decision to close the Leeds one in order to give a child in a particular region a better chance of having the best treatment?

Of course, it would be far better if no child required heart surgery, but I am afraid that that is not life.

We have been told many times the people of this country are not ruled by quangos but by an elected government. This being the case, surely the Secretary of State, Andrew Lansley, can order the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts to put all papers relating as to why it was decided to close the Leeds unit into the public domain so that people can see for themselves why the decision was made and that it was not because it was better just for them.

If he does not do this, I feel that with so much at stake he is not fit to be Secretary of State and that there is a cover-up. What must happen then is that some prominent Yorkshire person must use the Freedom of Information Act to make the JCPC release the papers. If they have nothing to fear they will not object.

From: H Marjorie Gill, Clarence Drive, Menston.

You printed the least important part of my recent letter about the children’s heart unit in Leeds!

Why, I wished to know, is the decision being made to close this hospital? Is it because it is not performing the operations properly? Is the surgical procedure not up to the correct standard? Is the nursing not properly carried out? Most importantly: are there more deaths per number of patients than at other hospitals?

Not one of these questions have been brought to the notice of the general public and, until they are, the judgement of the people making these decisions is bound to be considered poor.

Every child
is unique

From: Brian Hanwell, Bradford Road, Northowram, Halifax.

IN reply to recent correspondence on the subject of schooling, I admit to believing that education should be as liberal as possible.

When I was appointed to the leadership of a new school back in 1964, one of the first things I did was to take all my staff to visit Summerhill – the free discipline school run by AS Neill. Interestingly, all the teachers said afterwards that, given a choice of school for their own children, they would choose Summerhill.

That does not mean, however, that I am in favour of any dumbing down of any kind of learning activity. What I do believe is that children should be encouraged to study the subjects or areas of learning they are interested in and have an aptitude for.

If a child thinks he can learn French or mathematics or drama, then he should be allowed to do so. It is the one-size-fits-all curriculum that I am against.

I would also like to say that I would have thought that becoming fluent in spoken English and being able to read and write were the most important achievements for any child to aspire to. In my experience, the best way for any child to learn English is by talking, reading and writing about those areas of learning they are keenly interested in. Furthermore this kind of learning helps children to develop high self-esteem and raise their levels of aspiration.

I would like to add that I did learn from experience that there are exceptional children who, if given the chance, would choose to study nothing in particular at school but who are still capable of becoming successful business people. In some cases too much formal education can stifle the development of initiative and entrepreneurism.

There was one boy who was labelled educationally subnormal and who chose to do nothing at school but sit around thinking and day dreaming. After leaving school he decided there was no future for him in England so he went to live in New York and, after a lot of hard work, became a millionaire businessman.

Then there was a boy I was at primary school with who was totally disinterested in learning anything. When he left school he became a rag and bone man. Soon after that he became a scrap dealer and later became the owner of a large haulage company.

Every child is a unique individual and governments must allow for that when making changes to our education system.