YP Letters: End to uncertainty as heart unit is reprieved

AFTER so much uncertainty, it’s great to hear that complex heart surgery services now have a secure future at Leeds Teaching Hospitals (The Yorkshire Post, July 8).

I want to pay tribute to the congenital heart team in Leeds who have worked very hard to ensure that all of NHS England’s standards are met, and that heart surgeries in Leeds can continue to happen as safely as possible.

In 2009, the Leeds unit was earmarked for closure and the seven years since have seen a great deal of uncertainty for local families and patients who have needed heart operations.

That uncertainty is now finally over.

Despite the plans to close down the Leeds unit, the 2014 review found services there to have been safe after all.

The team there have 
since built on the excellent 
work they had already been doing, continued to act with the highest professionalism, and today’s news is a real tribute to that.

Well done also to Sharon Coyle and her team at the Leeds Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, who have campaigned extremely hard for the last few years to ensure heart surgeries could continue to happen in Leeds.

They should be rightly proud of this news.