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Greg Mulholland-Working Hard For Leeds North WestMulholland calls for further options for children’s heart review
July 12, 2011 6:59 PM
Greg Mulholland, Member of Parliament for Leeds North West has today at Health Questions, questioned Health Minister, Simon Burns, on the possibility of further options being brought forward to address some of the flaws in the original options put forward following the Safe and Sustainable review of children's congenital heart services.
Earlier this year, NHS published its Safe and Sustainable review which recommended a reduction in the number of children's cardiac surgery units in England from 11 to 7. The report offered four potential solutions for this reduction, three of which recommended the closure of the Leeds unit.
A petition with 500,000 signatures was presented to 10 Downing in support of the Leeds unit, and to a debate was held in the House of Commons on 23rd June on the future of children's congenital heart services. Input from the debate seemed to suggest that in order to consolidate the number of cardiac surgery units, either Leeds or Newcastle would have to close.
Greg asked the Minister about the possibility of further options being brought forward to address some of the flaws that have been highlighted in the original options that were published. Greg also asked whether included within these new options there should be the opportunity to retain both the Leeds and Newcastle units.
Greg commented:
"I was pleased to have the opportunity to question the Minister about the possibility of further options being brought forward to address some of the flaws in the original options. The strength of the Leeds unit is evident in both the empirical data and the outstanding support it received in obtaining over 500,000 petition signatures. Rather than creating a winner-take-all situation between the Leeds and Newcastle units, I asked Mr Burns whether it was possible for both to remain open.
"It is so important that the Joint Committee do not just restrict themselves to the four options that have been laid out in the review. It seems absurd that despite the fact it has been shown that the Leeds unit could remain as a standalone unit, whereas the Newcastle unit would not be able to survive without Leeds closing, Leeds only features in one of the four current options.
"Following the debate in Parliament last month and the presentation of the petition to Downing street it is vital we continue to put forward the case for the Leeds unit. The Leeds unit provides an invaluable service to the whole region and it is vital we keep pushing to keep children's heart surgery in Leeds'
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