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

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.