COUNCILLORS of all parties are expected to join the fight to keep a heart unit in West Yorkshire.

A proposal to support the campaign over the unit at Leeds General Infirmary is to be debated on Wednesday by Kirklees Council.

And it has been put forward by the leaders of three of the main parties – Clr Mehboob Khan (Labour), Clr Kath Pinnock (Lib Dem) and Clr Andrew Cooper (Green).

The move follows a review of cardiac units across the country.

That has recommended closing several of the units and the one at Leeds is under grave threat.

If it closed it would mean Huddersfield children and their families would have to travel to either Newcastle, Liverpool or Birmingham for treatment for a variety of heart conditions.

The fight has already been taken up by many families in Huddersfield, including Gaynor Bearder.

Ms Bearder, from Linthwaite, went to meet MPs at Westminster as the future of the Children’s Heart Surgery Unit in Leeds hangs in the balance.

The unit is under threat as an NHS review of the 11 centres carrying out the work considers future provision.

Ms Bearder said the possibility of children travelling to Newcastle for treatment could cost lives.

Ms Bearder, whose son Joel was treated at the Leeds unit, said closing the surgical unit in Leeds was “unfair on children”.

The proposal being put to Kirklees said: “This Council notes with concern the potential closure of the Children’s Heart Surgery Unit at Leeds General Infirmary, as a result of the Department of Health’s ‘Safe and Sustainable’ review of Children’s Heart Surgery Units.The closure of the Leeds unit, which serves a large population centre, will have a severe impact on Yorkshire families, including those living in Kirklees, and would mean that parents with sick children would have to travel to Newcastle, Liverpool or Leicester, to receive the essential treatment currently provided in Leeds.

“This will cause extreme difficulty as a result of the distances families will have to travel, at a time of high anxiety about their child’s health.

“This council wishes to express serious concerns about the impacts of removing services from the Leeds area.

“These concerns to be forwarded in a letter to the Department of Health with copies to all MPs within the Kirklees area.”

The council is also planning to submit its concerns to the review team looking at the heart units.

Ms Bearder said: “An extra 100 miles away for babies like Joel that had such a little amount of time left and was so poorly, they’re just not going to make it, they won’t survive.

“It will just make such a heart-breaking situation a million times worse.”