A Bradford mum whose son underwent crucial heart surgery has welcomed news that Yorkshire’s specialist unit has been given a stay of execution.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today said the plans to axe the children’s heart surgery unit at Leeds General Infirmary, as well as three others in Oxford, Leicester and west London, were being suspended, saying the NHS review had been based on “flawed analysis”.

In the Commons, Mr Hunt said he had asked NHS England to continue with their reorganisation of children’s heart surgery and asked them to report back by the end of July.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the process would now start again – but warned that in the future such technical surgery was unlikely to be carried out “everywhere”.

The NHS’s Safe and Sustainable Review, which concluded that surgery should be based in fewer specialist centres, had been heavily criticised and campaigners from the Yorkshire-based Save Our Surgery group had successfully challenged the process in court.

Campaigner Jan Dunne, of Low Moor, Bradford, whose 11-year-old son Harrison had successful heart surgery in 2011, said she was pleased with the announcement.

But she said the decision-making process was taking too long and costing too much.

She said: “They just seem to be dragging it out and dragging it out and dragging it out.”

Keighley mother Andrea Steel said she was “chuffed to bits” with Mr Hunt’s decision.

She declared that NHS bosses and politicians would think twice before taking on the region’s parents again over the issue.
She said: “The people of Yorkshire have stood up to them and said ‘keep this place open’.”
Mrs Steel, of Oakworth Road, visited the Leeds unit many times as her son Ben – now 23 – received treatment for two heart conditions.

Today’s news was also welcomed by the district’s seven MPs.

David Ward (Lib Dem, Bradford East) said: “It doesn’t mean that the unit’s safety has been guaranteed but the crucial thing is the argument that had been made all along by campaigners – who have done a fantastic job, by the way – has been proved right.”

George Galloway (Respect, Bradford West) said: “You don’t have to be a fan of The Thick of It to describe this as an omnishambles.”

But he raised concerns that after the “half-baked and biased inquiry at a cost of £6 million”, what would follow would be “another multi-million pound review with the same conclusions but with less porous arguments”.

Gerry Sutcliffe (Lab, Bradford South) said the proposed closures should never have got this far.

He said: “Families here in Bradford, whose children are being treated in Leeds, have been put through months of unnecessary stress and worry.”

Kris Hopkins (Con, Keighley and Ilkley) said he thought suspending the process was the right thing to do.

He said: “The public, as Jeremy said, had lost confidence in the process.”

Philip Davies (Con, Shipley) said: “I think it’s a vindication of the points that many of us have been making. It’s not the end of the battle but that was the best possible outcome that we could have hoped for.”

Pudsey and Aireborough Conservative MP Stuart Andrew said: “The announcement this afternoon is the outcome we have all been waiting for and a clear sign that the Government has listened to what campaigners have been saying all along.”
Leeds North West Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland called the announcement a “victory for accountability in the NHS”.

e-mail: claire.armstrong@telegraphandargus.co.uk