Decision-makers who have put a stop to children’s heart surgery in Leeds have been branded ‘heartless’ by devastated parents across Bradford.

After an 18-month battle by families to save the specialist unit at Leeds General Infirmary, which supports many Bradford youngsters, the decision was announced tonight to axe it in a move to streamline countrywide paediatric heart services.

Hospitals in Leicester and the Royal Brompton in London will also stop performing such procedures on children while another seven specialist centres will continue.

The move came after an NHS review concluded that expertise was spread too thinly in the ten sites and should be concentrated in fewer hospitals.

It is understood Leeds and the other two affected hospitals will continue to provide the specialist procedures throughout 2013 and then after that will still see patients for diagnosis, monitoring and non-surgical treatment.

Bradford mum Jan Dunne said it would be a nightmare for many parents of sick children.

Last year her ten-year-old son, Harrison, had successful heart surgery at Leeds after being under the care of specialists there all his life. He was born with a rare heart condition called supraventricular tachycardia.

Thanks to the work of the unit in Leeds, this year he played rugby in France with West Bowling Rugby Club and is due to be signed off from doctors’ care when he goes for a final check-up in Leeds on Monday.

Mrs Dunne, of Low Moor, Bradford said: “Harrison is living proof of how fantastic the Leeds unit is. It was well worth the fight we put up to save it over the last 18 months. The country needs more units like Leeds not less.

“It’s a very sad day. Words can’t describe how I feel. I’d hoped those making the decision would have a conscience but they have shown they have no heart,they are heartless. It will be a nightmare for parents.”

Four options were put forward for consultation but only one option (option D), featured the retention of the children’s heart surgery unit at Leeds General Infirmary. A consultation ended last July and yesterday’s decision was made at an all-day joint committee of primary care trusts streamed live on the internet.

Naomi Wilkinson, whose four-year-old daughter Olivia has a congenital heart defect, fears her family may now be forced to leave their Ilkley home to move closer to another hospital.

Mrs Wilkinson, of East Parade, said the closure decision, despite a major campaign including a 600,000-signature petition, had broken her family.

Olivia, had her life saved twice by specialists at LGI, after undergoing 18 hours of surgery shortly after birth and had to be resuscitated on two occasions during the operations.

She has an incurable heart defect, and faces an uncertain future and she awaits another major operation.

“It’s a nightmare, it’s bad. this decision has torn our family apart. I just don’t see how it’s supposed to work. After one of her operations we were in the hospital for eight months. In terms of Olivia’s future we’ll have to consider moving closer to another hospital given the nature of her palliative care.”

Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for children Councillor Ralph Berry (Labour) said: “This is a hard-hearted decision that has put number crunching ahead of children’s welfare and that of their families. What it tells us is that all those representations have been ignored and that is not a goodstory. It will have an enormous impact.”

Leeds City Council has also condemned the decision saying the loss of the facility will have a serious and detrimental impact on ill and vulnerable children and their families right across the region.

“The decision will leave 5.5 million people in Yorkshire and Humberside, and 14 million people living within a two hour drive of Leeds severely and disproportionately disadvantaged,” said Councillor Lisa Mulherin who is executive member responsible for public health.

Leeds Council will now be making an immediate referral of the decision to the Secretary of State for Health, she added.