Heart unit axed

Over 30 peers and MPs from across Yorkshire, the Humber and North East Lincolnshire were represented at a meeting with trustees from the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund, at the House of Commons, to show their support for the charity’s renewed fight to save children’s heart surgery in the region.

Representatives from the charity used the opportunity to discuss the flaws and inaccuracies they feel were apparent in the review, which concluded that heart surgery would be stopped at the Leeds General Infirmary, leaving Yorkshire, the Humber and North East Lincolnshire without a dedicated unit.

The meeting also outlined the charity’s plans for fighting the decision through the ministerial route. Children’s Heart Surgery Fund director, Sharon Cheng, said: “ The outcry from patients and parents has been overwhelming and we are glad that the MPs are listening to their constituents.

“We believe the process and decision is fundamentally flawed. We are going to keep fighting as we believe the case for Leeds has never been stronger.” Last year over 600,000 people signed a petition supporting the children’s heart unit at the LGI.

Campaigners fighting to keep Yorkshire's only children's heart surgery unit open are defiant - despite the devastating news that operations there are to stop, with young patients and their families having to travel elsewhere - most likely, Newcastle.

After a 2 year campaign, NHS bosses rejected a six hundred thousand name signature and the fact that families now face hours of travelling for life-saving treatment. Tina Gelder has this report.

The fight to save the children's heart surgery unit in Leeds from closure is to continue - despite an 18 month review deciding it has no future. Parents who now face taking their children to Newcastle or Liverpool for treatment have reacted angrily to the decision. Tina Gelder reports

Yorkshire MPs have called on the Government to reverse the "appalling decision" to close the specialist heart unit for children at Leeds General Infirmary. There will now only be two hospitals in the north of England capable of carrying out complex cardiac operations on children.

Leader of Kirklees Council Mehboob Khan has hit out at the decision to end children’s heart surgery in Leeds. The move means that families will now have to travel to Newcastle or Liverpool for life-saving surgery. He vowed to fight on with supporters to push for the decision to be reconsidered.

“There are many reasons why this decision is a disaster for families in our area. The travelling time, the expense, the loss of expert support from the region, the numbers of people that will need to use the chosen hospitals ," he said.

"600,000 people who signed the biggest petition in the history of the NHS can’t all be wrong! But while we have lost this battle, we must still campaign to win the war and work at the highest levels of government to see the decision overturned. "

The region's only Children's Heart Surgery Unit, at Leeds General Infirmary, is to close. Health bosses have also confirmed the closure of units in Leicester and London. It will mean sick children and their families from Yorkshire now having to travel to either Liverpool or Birmingham.

Duncan Wood reports.

Sheffield Heeley MP, Meg Munn, has expressed her dismay at a decision taken by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts today which will end surgery at a specialist children’s heart unit in Yorkshire.

Staff at the Children's Heart Surgery Unit in Leeds and parents of children treated there hear the announcement that the unit will close.

The MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough has vowed to keep up the fight against the closure of Leeds General Infirmary’s Children’s heart surgery unit that was announced earlier today.

You can watch the moment the decision was announced that children's heart surgery in Leeds would stop.