Children's Heart Unit Could Reopen Next Week

Children's heart surgery could resume at Leeds General Infirmary as early as next week.

Operations were suspended last week because of claims the children's cardiac unit had a death rate double the average.

But medical bodies and doctors have questioned the accuracy of the data, which they say was unverified and not fit to base the decision on.

Sir Bruce Keogh said the priority must be the safety of children

This weekend five health agencies will work together with a view to restarting surgery as soon as possible - on condition concerns about patient safety can be alleviated.

In a statement, Leeds NHS Trust said: "Following a meeting to review the decision to suspend surgery at Leeds, agreement was reached to work together to restart surgery on the site early next week subject to independent assurance of concerns raised.

"The meeting involved NHS England, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the NHS Trust Development Authority, and the Care Quality Commission.

"Over the course of the weekend all agencies will work together to provide sufficient assurance to all interested parties that this service is safe and can therefore re-open next week.

After the closure a week ago, Sir Bruce Keogh, the medical director of NHS England, said: "The trust has taken a highly responsible precautionary step.

"It is absolutely right not to take any risks while these matters are being looked into. The priority must be the safety of children."

Following the decision to work towards early opening next week, Maggie Boyle, chief executive of the Trust, said: "I am extremely confident that this service is safe and effective and should recommence at the earliest opportunity.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he supported the decision to restart children's heart surgery at the infirmary, though he added it should be "safe and sustainable".

A Department of Health spokesperson said in a statement: "The key consideration must always be patient safety. We support NHS England and the Trust in their decision to suspend surgery last week on the basis that there were serious concerns that needed to be investigated.

"If the Trust and the regulators are content that these concerns can now be explained or addressed then we would support a joint decision to resume surgery."

Parents had criticised the timing of the unit's suspension, which came 24 hours after a High Court judge ruled that a decision to close it as part of a reorganisation of services was "legally flawed".

But they also expressed relief that the unit was to reopen.

Jon Arnold's daughter Zoe had life-saving surgery at the unit when she was three weeks old.

He said: "There's been massive support from the parents and families for the unit, and this decision confirms what we thought about the quality of care all along.

"My daughter had fantastic care at the unit.

"It was difficult to understand as a parent how they could have shut the ward so swiftly on the basis of unverified data. It left parents feeling very confused about what to believe and what was best for their child."

But Anne Keatley-Clarke, chief executive of the Children's Heart Federation, said it was right to suspend surgery until doubts about safety could be addressed.

"There are a lot of families that are very worried there about what is going to happen with their children," she said.

She added that people were frightened about raising concerns about hospitals in the area while their children were still receiving care as they feared repercussions from the Trust and on social media.

"Once the unit is reopened then a lot of the families will have a lot of questions that need to be answered about the manner in which it closed," she said.

"The main thing is that babies and families that need urgent treatment can now get it on the unit without having to be shipped across the country to any available bed space."

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