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Heart Unit concerns

The family of a six-year-old girl who requires long term heart and lung care are scared about having to take her long distances for treatment following the closure of the heart surgery unit in Leeds.

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MP's letter pleading for Leeds heart unit to stay open

Ahead of a demonstration in Leeds on Monday, Greg Mulholland MP, who is fighting to save Leeds Children's Heart Unit from closure, has written this open letter.

The Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT) dismissed a 600,000 signature petition to keep our unit open because they “don’t count heads!” It was viewed as ‘one response’ however; the 22,000 messages supporting Birmingham were counted as separate responses.The JCPCT’s decision to close our Children’s Heart Unit is illogical and irrational. Their recommendations need to be thrown out and they need to answer questions as to how they came to their decision.

The impact on so many staff, patients and families, has been ignored and these deserve full and proper consideration before proceeding with the deeply flawed recommendations.The review team have ignored key facts and figures and the whole process appears to have been geared towards securing the future of the Newcastle unit.The JCPCT have ignored facts around travelling times and have also ignored the fact that Newcastle will struggle to reach the required number of units even if Leeds does close.

– Greg Mulholland MP

MPs raise concerns over heart unit closure

Yorkshire MPs, who are backing a campaign to save the region's only specialist children's heart unit, have raised the issue with Health Ministers in the Commons this afternoon. Child heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary is set to end after an NHS review concluded that expertise

was spread too thinly around the country and should instead be should be concentrated in fewer hospitals.Closing the unit would mean patients travelling to Newcastle, Liverpool or Birmingham for treatment.

Pudsey MP Stuart Andrew and Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland raised the issue during health questions in the House of Commons.

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Family's fear over heart unit closure

The family of a 6-year-old girl who is need of a heart and lung transplant say they are very scared about the closure of the Children's Heart Surgery Unit in Leeds.

Nikita Healey

Nikita Healey is going to require long term care to manage her condition and her mother has told Calendar she is not sure she can cope with the only unit in Yorkshire closing.

For treatment in the future Nikita will have to travel several hours from her home in Huddersfield to Newcastle.

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