Pause for thought call over closure of heart unit

Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew told the Commons yesterday that decisions over the future of children’s heart surgery in Leeds and Newcastle should be put off for a further 12 months while the other “safe and sustainable” review measures are implemented around the country.

The “pause” has the firm backing of Leeds-based charity the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, based at Leeds General Infirmary.

Director Sharon Cheng said: “It’s the sensible option. We’re not looking to hold up the process in the South, but asking them to look at the North. It would be the perfect solution considering how many voters are in this region.”

The closure of the Leeds unit was agreed at a meeting of an NHS panel earlier this year, as health service chiefs seek to concentrate services, arguing that they need to ensure services are as safe as possible.

But campaigners have repeatedly questioned the decision to close Leeds’s unit in favour of Newcastle, a move that would require children and their families from across Yorkshire to travel hundreds of miles for essential surgery.

Campaigners are now poised to launch a judicial review into the proposed closure, and Mr Andrew told MPs the “flawed” decision should be delayed by the new Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt for further consideration.

“Our view is that the review could quite happily be implemented elsewhere, but the Leeds and Newcastle units be kept open,” Mr Andrew said.

“A decision on their future should be delayed until April 2014.

“There are many benefits to the solution.

“It avoids the risk of a costly judicial action which could sink the review in its entirety; Leeds and Newcastle will have the opportunity to demonstrate their compliance with the ‘safe and sustainable’ standard, which is what we all want; it allows the less controversial decisions made by the panel to proceed elsewhere in the country; and it shows frankly that the Government is listening to the concerns of the 600,000 people who signed our petition.”

In a fiery Commons debate, Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland made a stinging attack on the NHS panel that made the decision earlier this year.

He told MPs the joint committee of primary care trusts (JCPCT) was now refusing to release key information to local authority bosses in Yorkshire to allow them to scrutinise how it had chosen to maintain services in Newcastle ahead of those in Leeds.

A formal referral of the panel’s decision has been requested by local authorities in Yorkshire, but the closure is still scheduled to be implemented with the rest of the review’s findings by 2014.

“The referral is being held up by the obstructionism from the JCPCT,” MR Mulholland said. “They are refusing to hand over all the information requested, and that is absolutely disgraceful.

“At the same time implementation is being forced through as if there is an attempt to avoid the scrutiny that is essential in such a sensitive case.

“The simple and outrageous point is that the JCPCT are frankly intentionally, deliberately denying access to these documents, in an attempt to block scrutiny of this flawed process.”

Mr Mulholland also criticised the Children’s Heart Foundation, a national charity which has called on the review to be implemented in full as quickly as possible.

“To try to force this decision through and try to undermine the Leeds unit before this decision has been formalised is something that a charity should simply not be doing,” the Liberal Democrat MP said.

Health Minister Dan Poulter said it was “not appropriate” for him to comment on the review of heart services “given the notice of legal proceedings and referrals to the Secretary of State”.

He added: “There is a process for scrutinising all decisions, and if the correct procedure has not been followed, decisions are open to judicial review.”